Cathair na Mart - Clew Bay Heritage Centre

Transcription

2007 Cathair na Mart 13/11
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CATHAIR NA MART, NO. 26, 2008
JOURNAL OF THE WESTPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Outline Map of Mayo.
© Copyright Westport Historical Society, December 2007
ISSN 0332-4117
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WESTPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
ADDRESS:
CLEW BAY HERITAGE CENTRE
THE QUAY
WESTPORT, CO. MAYO
Telephone: 098-26852
westportheritage@eircom.net
PRESIDENT:
John Mulloy
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
Brian Mannion, Curator, CBHC
Sheila Mulloy,
Kitty O’Malley-Harlow
Elisabeth Farrell
CHAIRPERSON:
John Mayock
VICE-CHAIRPERSON:
Aiden Clarke
HON. SECRETARIES:
Brónach Joyce
Dympna Joyce
HON. TREASURERS:
Marian Irwin
Sal O’Connor
P.R.O.:
Rita Gill
COMMITTEE
T. J. Hughes, Noelene Crowe, Dominick Moran, Ann Duffy,
Anna Hawkshaw, Vincent Keane, Al Salmon, Anna O’Dowd,
Gerry Bracken.
CLEW BAY HERITAGE CENTRE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Mayock, Chairman
Kitty O’Malley-Harlow, Mayo Co. Council
Brónach Joyce, Hon. Secretary
Seán Staunton, Ireland West
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Sheila Mulloy
Aiden Clarke
Elisabeth Farrell
Brian Mannion
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CONTENTS
Holy War at Aasleagh 1851-1894 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Michael McGinty
Murrisk Friary: A Late Medieval House of the Austin Friars . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yvonne McDermott
Western Folklore in Modern Ballads? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Alf MacLoughlin
Some Unusual Piscinae at Ballintubber Abbey and Elsewhere . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jim Higgins
1798 and 1922 – Another Folkloric Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jim Higgins
The Round Tower in Aughagower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Suzette Hughes
A Young Man’s War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Gerardine Cusack
Irish Postal History – Part I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Richard Joyce
Eric Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sonia Kelly
Seamus Murphy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Eric Cross
An Irish Hero in the Great American West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mary Ellen Chambers
The Westport Estate Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Brigid Clesham
SS Clew Bay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
J. G. Anketell
Marconi’s Irish Wireless Station and the OTHER
American Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Gerry Bracken
The Local Security Forces in Westport 1940-1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Vincent Keane
Voter’s List Prepared for Election to Grattan’s Parliament
in 1783 from the Estate of the Earl of Altamont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
John Mayock
An Outline History of the Town of Westport – Part I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Peadar Ó Flanagáin B.A.
An Outline History of the Town of Westport – Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Peadar Ó Flanagáin B.A.
Lord Sligo’s Visit to Mycenae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Aiden Clarke
Important Find Near Louisburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Recent Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Appreciations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Our Patrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Friends of Clew Bay Heritage Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Westport Historical Society Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Pages
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48
50
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59
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139
142
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Signal Box at Westport Railway Station. Irish Rail introduced centralised signalling in 2007.
Pride of Place competition judges visit the Clew Bay Heritage Centre.
(Photo © Frank Dolan).
Hon. Editor: Aiden Clarke
Rosbeg, Westport, Co. Mayo
Assistant Editor: Deirdre Quinn
Grateful thanks to Michael McLoughlin, Brónach Joyce, Sal O’Connor, Patricia Cox
and Anne Lally for their assistance.
While every care is taken with the publishing of the material in this journal, the editor
cannot be held responsible for the opinions expressed by the authors, or for any errors of
fact. Contributions are welcome, but must be typewritten, treble-spaced, on CD (Microsoft
Word) and accompanied by biographical details of the authors and relevant illustrations.
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Sinéad McDermott at the launch of Journal 25
in Matt Molloy’s Bar.
___________________________
BOOKS FOR SALE
The following issues of Cathair na Mart are still available:
No. 11 (1991), €8.50; No. 12 (1992), €7.60; No. 13 (1993), €7.60;
No. 14 (1994), €7.60; No. 15 (1995), €8.90; No. 16 (1996), €8.90;
No. 17 (1997), €8.90; No. 18 (1998), €8.90; No. 19 (1999), €8.90;
No. 20 (2000), €8.90, No. 21 (2001), €9.00; No. 22 (2002), €9.00.
No. 23 (2003), €9.00, No. 24 (2004-2005), €10.00.
Síle Uí Mhaoluaidh (Ed.), Father Manus Sweeney, a Mayo Priest in the
Rebellion of 1798
€7.60
Rosemary Garvey, Kilkenny to Murrisk
€11.20
Anthony J. Jordan, Major John MacBride 1865-1916
€8.80
Liam Bane, The Bishop in Politics, Life and
Career of John MacEvilly
€8.80
Michael Brady, A Sailor’s Story
€8.90
Guide to the Clew Bay Archaeological Trail
€9.95
Postage and packing per item
Ireland €3.00; Great Britain €5.00; Europe €5.00; U.S.A. €6.00.
Apply to the Clew Bay Heritage Centre, The Quay, Westport, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Tel.: +353 (0) 98 26852 :: E-mail: westportheritage@eircom.net
Website: www.museumsofmayo.com/clewbay.htm
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Presentation of old Westport Town Band instruments to Heritage Centre by Lou Kelly
(centre). Also in picture are John Mayock and Martin Curry. (Photo © Frank Dolan).
Pictured at the launch of Journal 25 were (from left): Joe McDermott,
Micheál Murphy, Tom Roache, James Gilvarry, Michael O’Sullivan and John Mayock.
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Holy War at Aasleagh 1851-1894
Michael McGinley
Aasleagh
Aasleagh was made by God and David Plunket. Where the Co. Mayo river
Erriff enters the sea at Killary Harbour there is an impressive waterfall,
Aasleagh Falls, and the small area just south of that is called Aasleagh. The
Counties of Mayo and Galway meet here at the foot of the Devil’s Mother
mountain. Aasleagh was part of the vast estates of the Marquis of Sligo. David
Plunket, second son of the first Baron Plunket, leased a valuable salmon fishery
and 4,000 acres of land from the Marquis of Sligo and the Earl of Lucan. He
lived in Aasleagh House near the falls and was the main mover in building
Aasleagh Church of Ireland in 1853. An imposing rectory was built after 1862.
The parish included Leenane, three kilometres from Aasleagh in the Barony of
Ross, Co. Galway. There was a big shift in population in this area after the
Famine of 1845-47. The population of Glennagevlagh, the townland next to
Aasleagh, increased from 110 in 1841 to 244 in 1861 – 45% of the 540 people
in the eight townlands of Leenane. During and after the famine Lord Sligo
cleared many of his tenants from their impoverished holdings. In Co. Mayo
near Aasleagh and Bundorragha Captain William Housten leased about 40,000
acres from Lord Sligo (Clesham and Geddis 2005). This note reviews briefly
the general background to the history of the Church of Ireland in the19th
century, comments on conversions in the West after the famine and describes
the experience of Aasleagh parish 1851-1894. The research is on-going and the
full story will contain revisions.
The second reformation in the Church of Ireland
In 1762 John Wesley, a priest of the Church of England, visited Westport.
He and his methodist colleagues devoted their lives to religious reform and the
seeds of Methodism which he sowed in Westport flourished. By 1784 a
Methodist society had developed and a chapel was built in the 1820s, with a
congregation of 78 by 1831 (Allen 1996).
Religious reform was badly needed. The Church of Ireland was in serious
decline by the end of the 18th century. Absence of episcopal oversight had led
to clerical indifference. Parishes were neglected, parishioners ‘left to pick up
the word of God by the wayside; to beg even for baptism . . . from ministers of
another faith’ (Acheson 1997). Roman Catholics had similar problems
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especially in remote and backward communities – ‘parish clergy neglecting
basic pastoral duties, weakness of ecclesiastical discipline . . . a general lack of
zeal and commitment’. (Connolly 1989).
Wesley’s message of justification by faith and Christian perfection became
central to the evangelical revival which enthused many Protestants in the early
nineteenth century. The desire to convert Irish Roman Catholics to
Protestantism was part of this revival and already in 1799 three Irish-speaking
missionaries had been sent to evangelise Catholics in the West. In Dublin
powerful business families such as Guinness, Bewley and La Touche took a
lead role in reform. As early as 1792 the Association for the Propagation of
Christian Knowledge – the APCK – was set up to be followed by the Hibernian
Bible Society (1806), The Sunday School Society for Ireland (1809), the
Religious Tract and Book Society (1817) and the Irish Society for the
Education of the Native Irish through the Medium of their own Language,
known as the ‘Irish Society’ (1818). The APCK began to run schools with
government aid and by 1824 had some 9,000 Protestant pupils and 6,000
Roman Catholics. By 1825 there were 1,702 Sunday Schools with over
150,000 scholars.
In 1811 an interdenominational Society for Promoting the Education of the
Poor in Ireland was set up – the Kildare Place Society. Daniel O’Connell and
the Roman Catholic Earl of Fingall served on its Board. By 1825 it had 1,490
schools with about 100,000 pupils. The Bible was to be read in school without
note or comment. Religious tensions began to cause problems by 1820 – efforts
were being made to convert Roman Catholic children – and O’Connell and
other Catholic representatives withdrew. The government withdrew its
financial support and introduced a new system of National Schools in 1831,
designed to be nonsectarian. This proposal upset many. The Church of Ireland
held that education was a church matter and set up the Church Education
Society which struggled at great expense for some decades to provide an
education system giving scripture a central role. The Roman Catholic bishops
were split, with most of them accepting the new schools and others being
totally hostile, notably Archbishop John MacHale of Tuam.
The rigid and combative attitudes taken up by the various denominations
were reflected in public theological controversy. The one thing that most of the
protagonists seemed to agree on was the use of wounding and insulting
language – the Blessed Virgin was ‘a sinful, unrighteous woman’, the Cross ‘a
blasphemous symbol’ (Houstoun 1879), ‘the Bible Societies were mere
commercial speculations’ (D’Alton 1928). Large numbers attended debates
between eminent divines and hundreds of pamphlets spread the flame of
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controversy. John MacHale, later Archbishop of Tuam, and James Warren
Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin 1819-34 were to the fore in controversy.
Bishop Robert Daly, Church of Ireland, was the militant leader of Protestant
evangelicals (Broderick 2006). William Magee, Church of Ireland Archbishop
of Dublin 1822-31, also supported the evangelicals. He and Trench of Tuam
were influential in the ‘second Reformation’ in the Church of Ireland in the
1820s.
Catholic Emancipation in 1829 was followed by the tithe ‘war’ in the
1830s. Religious conflict descended to violence and death. In 1838 the Tithe
Rent Charge Act converted tithes to a rent charge payable by landlords, partly
undermining the income of Church of Ireland clergy. The alienation between
the Roman Catholics and Protestants was intense as the country faced into a
decade which was to suffer the greatest natural disaster ever to hit Ireland – the
Great Famine.
Religious events in the dioceses of Tuam were shaped by the policies and
personalities of three bishops – Trench, Plunket and MacHale. Power Trench
was the second son of the first Earl of Clancarty of Ballinasloe. He had been
Bishop of Waterford (1802) and Elphin (1810) before becoming Archbishop of
Tuam 1819-39. He became an enthusiastic evangelical following a conversion
experience at the deathbed of his sister, Emily, wife of the wealthy Robert La
Touche. In Tuam he set high standards for his clergy and ‘preached a militant
evangelical ideology’ (McGinley 2004). ‘Trench fired his clergy with his own
passion . . . urged them to preach the ‘fundamental doctrines’ of the gospel, and
dwelt on their accountability for souls . . . (he) laid the foundation for the
missionary advance in Connaught under Bishop Thomas Plunket’ (Acheson
2002). He set up three local missionary societies to advance the conversion of
the West (Bhreathnach 2003).
Bishop Thomas Span Plunket was bishop of Tuam 1839-66. He became
2nd Baron Plunket in 1854. At first he tried to live as an absentee on the
continent but, following reprimands by the Chief Secretary and Primate
Beresford, he returned and encouraged missionary activities in Connemara.
Services were soon being conducted in Irish in many Connemara churches and
new churches and schools were built. (Bowen 1978, Acheson 2002)
But it was the Roman Catholic Archbishop John MacHale who by his
actions and inaction dominated the West. MacHale, Archbishop 1834-81, has
been ill served by historians who saw it as their task to depict him as a religious
and national hero. Bane (1996) is an exception, saying that ‘he was an
immensely stubborn man . . . difficult to deal with and, at times, cunning and
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devious’. Ó Tuathaigh (1983) attempts a reassessment of MacHale. He lists
some of the accusations against him – ‘go raibh sé mí-éifeachtach i gcúrsaí
riaracháin . . . gur doicheallach an fháilte a chuir sé roimh spiorad an leasaithe
ina ard-deoise . . . gur lig sé do na cumainn bhioblioreachta agus do
shoiscéalaithe an iompucháin níos mó dul chunn chin a dhéanamh san iarthair
ná mar a dhein siad in aon cheantar eile sa tír, [he was inefficient in
administration . . . spiritual reform got a only a grudging welcome in his
archdiocese . . . he allowed the bible societies and proselytisers to make more
progress in the west than anywhere else in the country]. Ó Tuathaigh points out
that MacHale had the biggest and one of the poorest dioceses in Ireland. Tuam
diocese had the lowest ratio of priests to people in the country. He says that the
conversions to the Church of Ireland were a temporary issue and most of the
converts had returned to their faith by MacHale’s death in 1881. MacHale’s
principled opposition to the government’s national schools cost the West dearly.
In many of the towns in his diocese MacHale introduced religious orders to
found schools without government aid. But the vast impoverished rural areas
remained an educational wilderness apart from schools run by the Church of
Ireland.
Conversions in the West
Under Bishop Plunket the mission work in Connemara prospered despite
the immense poverty of the area and its special sufferings during the famine of
1845-47. It was often alleged that inducements were offered to convert – food,
notably soup, and education. Unfortunately the debate on how conversions
were achieved has obscured the extent of such conversions and what happened
afterwards to the converted.
Two sources illustrate the Church of Ireland’s understanding of the extent
of conversion in Connemara – a Discourse by Bishop Plunket with a Report by
Rev. Alexander R. C. Dallas (Plunket/Dallas, 1851) and Good News from
Ireland (Garrett, 1863). From 17-22 September 1851 Bishop Plunket visited
Connemara with Dallas. 743 catechumens (candidates for confirmation) from
24 localities were confirmed in Oughterard, Glan, Castlekirke, Salruck,
Clifden, Derrygimla and Sellerna. 712 of these were converts from Roman
Catholicism. As well as confirmations there were inspections of 38 Irish
Church Mission staff in Glan from 14 missionary stations, including Kilmilkin
near Leenane. Bishop Plunket ordained three missionary priests in Clifden on
21 September, two of them converts from Rome.
Bishop Plunket set up the West Connaught Church Endowment Society in
1859 to enable poor parishes to be endowed with a capital sum of Stg. 2,500
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which would produce Stg.75 a year as an endowment for a rector. In 1862
Plunket asked Rev. John Garrett, Rector of Penzance, to represent the Society
in England with a view to raising funds. Garrett toured the western missions
and published a report. He favoured the then accepted technique of controversy,
confronting Roman Catholic errors in strong terms. Garrett’s report, addressed
to the Archbishops and Bishops of England, summarises the history of each
mission station, highlighting and, at times exaggerating, successes and
emphasizing the need for funds to continue the good work.
A key feature of the missionary achievement in Connemara in the midnineteenth century was the building of schools, churches and rectories. The
map overleaf, based on Garrett (1863), shows the great progress with providing
new places of worship. In 1837 there were 13 places of worship in West
Connaught. By 1862 there were 57 – an increase of 44. England was seen as
the main source of funds for building and maintaining missions.
There was also a big drive to build new Roman Catholic churches at this
time – twenty of the present-day churches in Tuam were built 1840-50
(Waldron 2005).
The Mission at Aasleagh
Garrett devotes four pages to the mission at Aasleagh. He sketches its
history, describes a visit to the mission in 1853 by a group which included the
Duke of Manchester and concludes with a summary of other reports on the
mission. He ends with a strong appeal for others ‘to labour with us in this
work’.
The first steps in converting people at Aasleagh began about 1851 when
Irish teachers sponsored by the Irish Society arrived. In January 1852 the Irish
Society Record reported ‘At Aasleagh, where the work has but recently
commenced, the most wonderful results have followed the preaching of the
Word. A congregation of about eighty, and a daily and Sunday-school group of
a similar number, are the fruits which have been vouchsafed to introduce the
Gospel to this hitherto neglected and benighted people’. In March 1853 an
attendance of 100 is reported when Rev. Mr. Ashe examined and ‘the readiness
in answering Holy Scripture [was] beyond all praise’. Special mention is made
of ‘the generous and persevering aid afforded . . . by Mr. and Mrs. D. Plunket
as well as other members of that family . . . A handsome new church, in a
beautiful situation, is in rapid progress towards completion.’ The congregation,
composed entirely of ‘converts from Rome’, met in David Plunket’s Aasleagh
home while the church was being built.
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Western Connaught 1862 From Garrett (1863)
Church of Ireland Places of Worship:
1862 – 28 Churches ( G): 29 Buildings ( G ) licensed for worship
1837 – 7 Churches underlined; 6 licensed buildings, 1837, replaced by 4 churches, 1862
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In 1862 Garrett spoke at a service in Aasleagh and emphasised the great
progress made over the previous twenty years in the state of religion in the
west. He reported a steady congregation of eighty to one hundred souls. One
thing was lacking – a parsonage. Plans had been made for a neat and substantial
dwelling on a two-acre site but only Stg. 80 of the required Stg. 600 had been
collected. A direct appeal was made for funds to be sent to Rev. Robert
O’Callaghan at Aasleagh. A sketch of the Aasleagh development provided by
Mr. Dallas is reproduced below.
The Church and The Parsonage
Garrett visited the Aasleagh school and examined the children – 22 boys
and 27 girls – in Scripture. He agreed fully with the laudatory comments of
earlier examiners – the Bishop of Oxford in 1861 and four English clergymen
in 1862. He noted the successful careers of ex-pupils. Some examples are – five
teachers, sixteen servants . . . three young men who have joined the army . . .
three young women who have married respectable Protestants, two others who
married Roman Catholics – ‘one of whom has now the pleasure of seeing her
husband accompanying her to the church’. Some poor farmers in the district,
anxious to get education for their children, gave some children to friends of the
Mission who placed them as lodgers with Protestant families. The demand was
so great that it was now proposed ‘to collect the children together in one house
. . . under the care of a superior matron’. Readers are asked to send
contributions for this project to Miss Aldridge at Aasleagh Lodge, Westport.
She was the sister of David Plunket’s wife. An orphanage was built later.
The Church and the Parsonage.
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Garrett’s report ends with a strong appeal for funds lest the Irish Church
Missions be compelled to ‘withdraw from this station . . . allowing Rome to
triumph in dispersion of this now beautiful flock’. His report illustrates the
precarious nature of the conversions in Connemara, dependent as they were on
funds from England. The report which painted an optimistic picture to
encourage donations was published in 1863 with the title Good News from
Ireland.
A year after Garrett’s report was published H. S. Cunningham (1832-1920)
wrote Is ‘Good News from Ireland’ True?. This first appeared in Fraser’s
magazine and was later published as a pamphlet. He attacked the Church of
Ireland in trenchant terms, alleging that the Church engendered a tone of
arrogant, violent, uncharitable bigotry; Garrett was a disgrace in his attitude to
Roman Catholics who had a genuine grievance; Macauley and others viewed
the Irish Church with wonder and derision. Not only did the pamphlet threaten
Garrett’s appeal for funds but it raised the fundamental question as to whether
it was right to try to convert the Irish at all. Cunningham (1832-1920), son of a
clergyman, became a High Court Judge in Calcutta and was knighted in 1889.
The Aasleagh Records
Happily the records of Aasleagh parish listed below are preserved in the
Representative Church [of Ireland] Body Library in Dublin.
1. Deed of Consecration of the Church of Saint John the Baptist, 1858;
information on appointments of certain incumbents.
2. Five Preachers Books covering 1853-1961.
3. Marriage Register 1859-1956.
4. Select Vestry Minutes 1872-1900.
5. Correspondence, mainly on finances 1875-1914.
Aasleagh was initially a Chapel of Ease attached to the Parish of
Aughagower in the Union of Westport. The Clergy who served at Aasleagh
1853-94 were:
1. 1853-54 Abraham Jagoe – successor to Revd Weldon Ashe.
2. 1854-61 Richard Goodison.
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3. 1861-68 Robert O’Callaghan.
4. 1868-72 Henry Acton Fleming.
5. 1872 Edward Sampson Jervois – died November 1872.
6. 1873-74 Edward Rounds.
7. 1874-94 Timothy Clesham (as Curate 1874, as Rector 1875, married
Isabella McKeown, Leenane Hotel).
Revd Jagoe is described as the successor to Revd Weldon Ashe. Ashe
graduated from Trinity College in 1852 and in 1853 married Katherine, eldest
daughter of the Hon. Robert Plunket, Dean of Tuam. He ministered briefly at
Aasleagh before Jagoe.
The Preachers’ Book record the numbers in attendance at Service each
Sunday. From 1853 to 1861 the attendance is broken down between ‘Old
Protestants’ and ‘Converts’. From late August 1861 this record is discontinued
with the arrival of Robert O’Callaghan. Table 1 shows the attendance recorded
on the last Sunday of October 1853-1861, a date which avoids busy times such
as Easter and August.
Table 1 Attendance at Aasleagh Church Sunday Services on the last
Sunday of October 1853 - 1861
Year
1853
(23 Oct.)
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
(18 Aug.)
Average
1853-61
‘Original
Protestants’
Converts
Total
Converts as
% of total
21
23
14
19
22
25
17
13
33
38
46
31
30
30
35
29
54
61
60
50
52
55
52
42
61%
62%
77%
62%
58%
55%
67%
69%
13
27
40
66%
19
33
52
63%
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Some unusual events are also recorded – two ‘controversial lectures’ in
1853 and four in 1854, some at the nearby school in Glenanean. Revd Richard
Goodison gives the subjects of two ‘controversial lectures’ in 1859 – the
Supremacy of Peter and Confession. On occasion the presence of ‘Romanists’
is recorded. A sparse record suggests that children accounted for about one
third of the old Protestants and a half of the converts. An average attendance of
52 is much less than the 80-100 reported by Garrett. The total population of the
nearby eight townlands of Leenane in 1861 was 540.
After 1861 attendance at services fell slightly. In the period up to 1894
when Clesham died, after twenty years in the parish, the attendance was below
30 in the winter. about 30-40 in spring and late autumn and 50-70 in summer
and August. After the mid-1920s attendance declined sharply. The preachers’
book has four laconic entries in 1922/23:
5 Nov. 1922 Republicans at (Aasleagh) Lodge.
3 Dec. Free State troops arrive.
17 Dec. Free State troops leaving.
4 Feb. 1923 As. Lodge burned this morning.
Jagoe records services at Bundorragha for thirteen weeks in April-July
1854 with attendances averaging 19, mainly old Protestants. Bundorragha is
near Delphi where in 1847 William and Matilda Houstoun (also spelt Houston
or Housten) took over a vast estate from Lord Sligo. Protestant Scottish
retainers were brought in to manage the estate and by 1869 they had 23,000
sheep. Matilda published a book on their life there – Twenty Years in the Wild
West – describing the ‘spiritual tyranny and . . . reign of terror’ they met. She
describes the violent language used in sermons to denounce the idolatries of
Rome and mentions Clesham who came from Aasleagh even in the worst
weather. The Houstouns met with serious outrages including shootings and
sheep stealing. Mrs. Houstoun records an extraordinary visit to Delphi from
Archbishop MacHale and seven priests, possibly in the mid-1860s – she gives
hardly any dates in her book. About 30 Roman Catholic children attended a
school run by the Houstouns on their estate. The Archbishop said that, unless
emblems [statues and crucifix] were placed on the walls of the classrooms, he
could not permit the school to exist. Mrs. Houstoun said she could not coerce
the Protestant parents but would consult them and her husband. The result was
that ‘not a single Roman Catholic child ever set foot again in Delphi school’.
The early success in converting Roman Catholics in Aasleagh came under
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pressure. At local level finances were lacking due mainly to the failure of
absentee landlords to contribute. At national level the Church of Ireland
suffered the trauma of disestablishment in 1869. The Land League, inspired by
Mayoman Michael Davitt, and the Land Acts 1870-1903 saw a gradual
disappearance of landlords.
Until Aasleagh got an annual endowment of Stg.75 from the West
Connaught Church Endowment Society in 1870 its finances were precarious.
Its parishioners were predominantly penniless tenants, some of whom were
given money from the Sunday collection. The parish’s great patron the Hon.
David Plunket, brother of the Bishop of Tuam, died in 1868. His widow,
Louisa, moved from Aasleagh but remained a generous contributor until her
death in 1895. Aasleagh could not swim against the ebbing tide of money from
England for the Irish Church Missions. ‘The Crimean War [1853-56] did much
to take public attention from Ireland, but even more damaging . . . was the
attention the English Evangelicals gave to the Indian Mutiny [1857-58]. [The
English Evangelicals were] filled with excitement over the challenge to
‘Christianise’ India and the Irish religious war was pushed into the background’
(Bowen 1978). No doubt the fundamental issue raised by H. S. Cunningham as
to whether it was right to try to convert Irish Roman Catholics at all also
undermined support.
The declining impact of the Aasleagh mission is shown in the trend of
marriages in the parish. The marriage register for 1859-1956 records nineteen
marriages – eight of them in 1859-67, seven in 1868-1916 and four in 1917-56.
Of the 15 marriages up to 1916 only three involved ‘local men’ – Thomas
Bateson, a carter from Tourmakeady (1860), Anthony Gallagher, a labourer
from Bundorragha (c. 1863) and Patrick Faherty, a labourer from Letterass
(1866). There were four R.I.C. constables, two scripture readers, a land
steward, a teacher, a farmer from Achill, a clergyman, a gentleman and a
sculptor (William Costigan from Belfast who married Lucinda McKeown in
1895). Fourteen of the brides had local addresses – nine from Aasleagh, and
one each from Glenanean, Bundorragha, Glanagimla, Griggins and Leenane.
In Ayle/Aughagower, associated with Aasleagh initially, there were three
marriages in 1852-55 of couples with Aasleagh connections, notably on 17
March 1855, the marriage of James Tynan, Steward at Delphi, and Elizabeth
Magee, Schoolmistress at Aasleagh. The Tynans are still in Leenane.
Aasleagh parish was at pains to show its poverty to the Tuam Diocesan
Council. The Select Vestry informed the Council in February 1872 that there
were 18 families, 103 persons, in the parish including Protestant Dissenters. In
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January 1876 Rev. Timothy Clesham listed his 52 parishioners for Dr Kincaid
of the Diocesan Council:
O’Malley, Scripture Reader, wife and six children – total: 8
McDonagh – total: 3
Two school teachers – total 3
Mrs. Gibbons, Sextoness – total 3
McNab, wife and seven children – total: 9
Mrs. McLoughlin, Anthony Gallagher, Miss Perdue [all old] – total; 3
RIC policemen – total 8
King, labourer, wife and six children – total 8
Lally, farmer, unmarried, four brothers, one sister as dependants – total 6
Barber, landlord – total 1
This list does not include the dissenters, Tynan and McKeown, and
Clesham himself.
Surviving letters from the clergy at Aasleagh to Dr Kincaid, Secretary of
the Diocesan Council in Tuam, show the dire financial position of the parish.
The income from parishioners is minimal. In 1872 the Select Vestry refused to
pay anything towards the Diocesan Fund until the parish was put on the same
footing as every other parish. Rev. Rounds noted that he got no help from
absentee landlords, that half his congregation were dissenters whose own
ministers came out twice a month, ‘A lady’ had sent Stg.10 in 1872 and 1873.
The only gentleman in the parish, William Houstoun who had taken Lord
Sligo’s land, gave nothing and did not identify himself with the Church of
Ireland.
The financial struggle of the parish is the major theme in Clesham’s
surviving letters to the Diocesan Council. A sub-theme was the need for him to
get some income from the parish. At no stage does he refer to the Stg.75 a year
which he received from the West Connaught Church Endowment Society. Only
the key issues emerging from his correspondence are mentioned below.
September 1874: The only parishioners who could help financially were a
struggling shop keeper [Tynan] and a Presbyterian Hotel Keeper [Mc Keown].
October 1874: Rev. G. Peacock, St George’s Parish, Dublin sent
Stg.25-4-4 toward Aasleagh’s debt – half of a donation from ‘a lady in
England’.
November 1874: Clesham asks for advice as to how he can recover Stg.1718
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12-8 ‘taken illegally and corruptly’ from the parish by his predecessor, Rev.
Rounds, now in England.
January 1875: George Houston was to sell his land, people (were) leaving
[William Houston died suddenly in 1872, George Houston did not sell]. George
Houston, a non-contributor, was nominated as a Synodsman in 1872 as was
James Tynan]. Barber, one of three sub-tenants of Houston, gave only small
amounts – Stg.2 at Christmas 1875.
June 1879: The Dublin Parish of St Mathias’ gave Stg.15 to the parish.
Clesham strikes a personal note on 25 September 1883 writing to Dr.
Booker who replaced Kincaid – ‘My little boy of 16 months was burnt on the
wrist. We put castor oil and wadding on it. Am I treating it properly? Could you
send me some ointment?’.
The patronage of Aasleagh parish by the Plunkets continued after the
deaths of Hon. David Plunket of Aasleagh in 1868 and of his brother, Thomas,
Bishop of Tuam, in 1866. David’s widow, Louisa, sent regular contributions to
the parish, initially from Lough Mask Cottage, Ballinrobe. Before Christmas
1874 she wrote from Marino Terrace, Ballybrack, Co. Dublin sending Stg.10 –
‘While Archdeacon Ashe lived we had hopes of the place’. In February 1875
she sent Stg.100 and Stg.12-1-11 from her sister, Miss Aldridge to clear the
entire debt on the parish. Further donations are not recorded. She died in 1895,
the year after Clesham.
Questions and Answers
Research answers some questions but it also raises new ones. Little is
known about what happened to the Church of Ireland converts in Aasleagh.
Pope Pius IX wrote to MacHale in 1852 urging him to be ‘diligent and
watchful, to defend his flock from the attacks of ravening wolves, to lead back
the erring to the paths of truth, justice and salvation’ (D’Alton 1928). MacHale
visited ‘tainted parishes’ with several priests, distributed good books and
moved to set up monasteries in Clifden, Roundstone and Achill. Missioners
were brought in to reconvert the faithful. It is not known how the converts of
Aasleagh reacted but some must have returned to Rome. Others joined the
massive flood of emigration to the USA but whether as Protestants or Roman
Catholics is unknown. Miller (1985) notes that many thousands of the
emigrants to the USA ‘were only recent converts from Catholicism, ‘soupers’
from mission stations in Connaught and West Munster, whose apostasy made
them social outcasts among their former co-religionists’. He mentions a
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specific case – a blacksmith from Co Mayo, once a Roman Catholic. The priest
did not allow people to employ him. He was one of many seeking free passage
to Canada.
Another question which can never be fully answered is how the holy war
in Tuam and Aasleagh was affected by the denial of national school education
to the rural poor.
References
Primary sources:
Clesham, Brigid and Geddis, Wesley (compilers) (2005), Westport Estate Papers,
Dublin: National Library of Ireland.
The records of Aasleagh parish, listed above, preserved at the Representative Church
Body Library, Dublin.
Photographs from an Exhibition at Aasleagh Church c. 2005, Hastings private
collection, Manchester.
Directories and Periodicals:
The Catholic Directory.
The Irish Church Directory.
The Christian Examiner.
Main secondary sources:
Acheson, Alan (1997), A History of the Church of Ireland 1691-2000, Dublin: The
Columba Press and APCK.
Allen, Donna (1996), ‘Westport Methodist Church’ in Cathair na Mart, No. 16,
Westport: Westport Historical Society.
Bane, Liam (1996), ‘John MacEvilly and the Catholic Church in Galway 1857-1902’ in
Galway, Dublin: Geography Publications.
Bhreathnach, Áine (2003), Corr na Móna, Corr na Móna: Coiste Forbhartha Chorr na
Móna.
Bowen, Desmond (1970), Souperism: Myth or Reality, Cork: The Mercier Press.
Bowen, Desmond (1978), The Protestant Crusade in Ireland, Dublin: Gill and
Macmillan.
Broderick, Eugene (2006), ‘Bishop Robert Daly, Ireland’s Protestant Pope’ in History
Ireland, Volume 14, No. 6, Bray: History Publications Ltd.
Connolly, S.J. (1989), ‘Mass politics and sectarian conflict, 1823-30’ in W.E. Vaughan
(ed), A New History of Ireland, Volume VI: Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Cunningham, H.S. (1864), Is ‘Good News from Ireland’ True?, London: Longman,
Green . . . reprinted from Fraser’s Magazine.
D’Alton, The Right Rev Monsignor (1928), History of the Archdiocese of Tuam, Volume
II, Dublin: the Phoenix Publishing Company Ltd.
Garrett, John (1863), Good News for Ireland, London: Hatchard.
Griffith, Richard (1855), General Valuation of Ireland – Union of Oughterard, Union of
Westport, Dublin: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Houstoun, Mrs. (1879), Twenty Years in the Wild West, London: John Murray.
Lyons, John (1984), ‘John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam’ in Cathair na Mart, Vol. 4,
No. 1, Westport: Westport Historical Society.
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McGinley, Michael (2004), The La Touche Family in Ireland, Greystones: The La
Touche Family Legacy Committee.
Meehan, Rosa (2003), The Story of Mayo, Castlebar: Mayo County Library.
Miller, Kerby A. (1985), Emigrants and Exiles, New York and Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Ó Tuathaigh, M. A. G. (1983), ‘Seán Mac hÉil: Athbhreithniú’, in Áine Ní Cheannain
(eag), Leon an Iarthair, Baile Átha Cliath: An Clóchomhar Tta.
Plunket, Thomas and Dallas, A.R.C.(1851), Convert Confirmations, London: James
Nisbet & Co.
Villiers-Tuthill, Kathleen (2006), Alexander Nimmo, Clifden: Connemara Girl
Publications.
Waldron, Kieran (ed) (2005), Archdiocese of Tuam, Ireland: Booklink.
Whelan, Irene (2005), The Bible War in Ireland 1800-1840, Dublin: The Lilliput Press.
Prior to 2000 Michael McGinley’s main publications were on Irish industrial relations.
He then did research into the La Touche banking family, Huguenots based in Dublin. His
book The La Touche Family in Ireland was published in 2004 with a reprint in 2006. He
is currently engaged in research into the Leenane area with which he has family
connections.
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Murrisk Friary: A Late Medieval House
of the Austin Friars
Yvonne McDermott
Murrisk Friary is situated on the shores of Clew Bay, where it is
overlooked by Croagh Patrick. It was home to the Austin Friars, or Eremites
of Saint Augustine, who were mendicant friars. The mendicant orders are those
religious orders who combine monastic life and outside religious activity, such
as preaching to the local community. In addition to the Augustinians, the
Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites are also mendicant orders. This
article aims to discuss Murrisk Friary in terms of its history and architecture
and will consider some artefacts associated with it. The building of the friary
will be placed in the broader context of developments in late medieval Ireland
and the reform of the mendicant orders in Europe in the later middle ages.
The Augustinians
The history of Christianity illustrates numerous ways in which the
monastic vocation manifested itself. Two fundamental elements constituted
perennial ingredients of this vocation: prayer and asceticism, a life of
discipline. Two main forms of monastic life can be distinguished. Firstly, there
is the reclusive eremitical life in which a monk lives as a hermit, cut off from
the company of others. In contrast, in the coenobitical life, the monk lives as
Murrisk Friary as seen from the south west.
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part of a religious community. Despite being known as the Eremites of Saint
Augustine, the Augustinians would more correctly be considered to belong to
the latter tradition as they lived within a religious community. This confusion
stems from the early history of the order.
The history of the Augustinian friars is more obscure than that of either the
Franciscans or Dominicans. This is partly attributable to the fact that the
Augustinians lacked a single identifiable founder, as those orders had, to
establish the initial precepts of the order and formulate a rule for its followers.
The adoption of the Rule of Saint Augustine shows the Augustinians were
influenced by the principles laid down by Saint Augustine, however their
foundation was not due to his direct personal influence (Knowles, 1962). The
Augustinian Order is believed to have descended from semi-eremitical
communities in Italy which, in 1243, were united under the Rule of Saint
Augustine by Pope Innocent IV. Further papal influence, in the form of a
decree by Alexander IV, resulted in their adoption of the mendicant way of life,
the ‘Great Union’ of 1256. The Augustinians wore a black habit and the rule
by which they lived emphasised charity, devotion to the church and theological
study. The Augustinian Friars should not be confused with the Augustinian
Canons Regular. The latter were not a mendicant order and could be more
favourably compared with the Cistercian order than with the friars.
The Austin Friars arrived in Ireland by way of England and an English
influence is evident in the order’s early development in Ireland. Their first
foundation in Ireland was established in Dublin c. 1282. Initially, their houses
in Ireland were predominantly Anglo-Irish foundations based in urban areas
and they did not have a significant presence in Connacht. As will become
apparent, this is in contrast with their later development. Administratively, the
Irish friaries constituted one of the five regions of the English Augustinian
province. The Irish region was governed by a vicar provincial who reported to
the English provincial.
Following the initial expansion of the mendicant orders in Ireland in the
thirteenth century, their growth slowed and eventually almost ceased for a time.
Circumstances in fourteenth century Ireland gave rise to instability that was to
prove inhospitable to the establishment of new religious houses. Such factors
include the Black Death, civil unrest caused by the Bruce invasion and the
decline experienced by the English lordship in Ireland. All the mendicant
orders in Ireland had followed a similar pattern to the Augustinians, basing
themselves primarily in urban areas under Anglo-Irish patronage. The Black
Death had a pernicious impact on the mendicant communities in rural Ireland.
The very nature of the mendicant life brought the friars out into the affected
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Plan of Murrisk Friary (redrawn after Leask, 1943)
areas in fulfilment of their pastoral role. Therefore, mendicant orders suffered
badly and experienced a decline in their numbers. One of the major accounts
of the Black Death in Ireland was written by a Franciscan friar, John Clyn of
Kilkenny. He records the impact the plague had on the mendicant friars.
As Ireland recovered from the turmoil of the fourteenth century, conditions
again became more suited to religious patronage. A second phase of expansion
of the mendicant orders took place in Ireland in the fifteenth century. In
contrast to those houses founded in the initial phase, the second wave
foundations were predominantly rural in location and were founded by patrons
from the Gaelic and Gaelicised communities. They tended to be based in the
north and west of the country. Of the nine new houses founded by the
Augustinian Friars between 1400 and 1508, eight were in the archdiocese of
Tuam (Watt, 1998).
The Observant Reform
The fifteenth century witnessed a reform of the mendicant orders, known
as the Observant reform. The initial stringency of their rules had lapsed
somewhat as the mendicants had become victims of their own success, as
outlined by Ó Clabaigh (2002). Patrons admired their commitment to poverty
and considered the mendicants worthy benefactors of their generosity, for
example in the form of bequests.
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Such practices led to an accumulation of wealth at odds with the original
tenets of the mendicant orders. The Observant reform sought to address the
malaise within the mendicant orders and to tackle the departure from the
stringency of the original rules of these orders, which had become evident and
was labelled Conventualism. Some houses in Ireland were founded
specifically as Observant houses; others were later converted to the reform.
The Observant reform had a relatively minor influence in Britain and it was
mainly European influences that facilitated its growth in Ireland. A renewed
commitment to austerity, a stricter code of discipline and a return to poverty
characterised the reform.
Banada, County Sligo, became the first Observant Augustinian house in
Ireland in 1423 and was founded with the permission of the order’s Prior
General, Agostino Favaroni. The Franciscan Observants occasionally
encountered opposition from the upper echelons of their order. This was not
the case for the Augustinians whose Priors General acted as protectors of the
Observants (Martin, 1961). Many of those who held this office were Italian
and this helps to account for the strong Italian proclivity of the reform in
Ireland.
History of Murrisk Friary
Quinn (1993, p. 199) quotes “an old record” which states that Murrisk
Friary was established for the Augustinian friars in 1227 “when Murrough
O’Malley was Lord of Owl O’Maly [Umhaill]”. No further detail is given as
to what old record contains this information, and it is more commonly accepted
that Murrisk Friary was founded in 1456. This is supported by the architectural
evidence. Corlett (2001) states that it has been recorded that the foundation of
this house was necessary because the people of the area had not hitherto been
instructed in the faith, which would seem surprising for an area in which a place
of pilgrimage such as Croagh Patrick is situated. Murrisk was founded
specifically as a house of the Augustinian Observant Reform, so perhaps this
comment makes reference to the fact that prior to 1456 there were no Observant
houses in the area and not that the people of the area had not been introduced
to Christianity. Gwynn and Hadcock (1988) analyse the documentary evidence
pertaining to the foundation of Murrisk. A papal mandate of 1456 was issued
for Hugh O’Malley, a Banada friar, to build a monastery at Leithearmursge
(Murrisk) on land granted by Thady or Tadhg O’Malley, captain of the nation.
However, they also add that a 1656 document states that the founder of the
friary was Lady Maeve O’Connor, wife of Diarmuid Bacach O’Malley who at
this time ruled the barony in which the friary is situated. He was an uncle of
Thady. It may be the case that a number of different patrons were involved in
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the establishment and continued support of Murrisk. This was the case with a
number of fifteenth century friaries in Ireland. Murrisk Friary was dedicated to
Saint Patrick and some of his supposed relics were preserved there. The friary
was also known as Muirske, and Mons S. Patrittii. Very little is known of the
history of Murrisk, a factor Leask (1943) attributes to its remote location and
paucity of endowment. Documentary evidence for foundations such as this is
often difficult to obtain; indeed overall there is a dearth of primary sources
pertaining to the medieval period in Ireland.
Architecture
Otway (1839, p. 308) describes
Murrisk friary as “not much worth
seeing, a small nave and chancel, with
few or none of the usual
accompaniments of a monastery”. He
attributes this sparseness to the austerity
of the rule under which the Austin Friars
lived. In terms of layout, Murrisk is an
L-shaped friary, consisting of a church
with a range of domestic buildings at
right angles to it. The church is
composed of a single chamber and has
no aisle or transept. Unusually, this
church lacks a west window,
presumably due to alterations made
when the tower was inserted at the west
end. The main entrance to the church is
now located in the south wall, but the
western gable was traditionally the
location of a friary’s main portal
through which the secular congregation
would gain entry to the church.
East wall as seen from the interior of
the church.
The east window is without doubt the crowning glory of this building. In
keeping with architectural tradition, it is the largest and most elaborate window
in the friary. It is a five-light switchline tracery window with its mullions or
vertical members curving and intersecting on paths concentric with the arch of
the window. Each of the lights is topped by a trefoilated arch. It is similar to
Late Irish Gothic tracery windows in other religious houses. The eastward
orientation of the most notable window in the friary is imbued with symbolism.
It is aligned to face Jerusalem in the east and also to face the rising sun. Most
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of the rest of the windows in this church are
correspondingly in concert with what one
would expect to find in many religious
houses of this age in Ireland. There is a
single-light ogee-headed window in the
north wall of the church and a twin-light
cusped ogee in the south wall. To the east of
this is a particularly well executed example
of a single-light ogee with a more intricately
moulded dripstone or hood moulding than is
found on the other windows in this friary.
Towards the eastern end of the south wall are
two windows that Leask (1943) believes
were insertions that were designed to replace
earlier, less elaborate windows. Both of
these have pointed arches with heavy cusps
and are aesthetically slightly incongruous in
this setting. They appear weighty and
awkward in comparison to the more slender
mullioned and single-light windows that are
also on this south wall.
Page 27
Single light ogee-headed window
from the south wall of the
church.
Relief carvings of heads are a common feature
of the Romanesque style in Ireland, where they
occur in profusion, such as on the doorway of
Clonfert Cathedral, County Galway. Carved heads
also appear in the Late Irish Gothic style but in a
more sparse fashion. They can occur in seemingly
random locations on
the exterior wall of a
friary, often high up on
otherwise uninterruptFace carving on the
ed stretches of wall.
east wall of Murrisk
Two examples may be
Friary, situated to the
seen in Murrisk Friary,
south side of the east
window.
one on the south wall,
the other to the south
side of the east window. The former appears to be
wearing a hat or headgear of some description,
while the latter sports a beard. One can only
Face carving on the
south wall of Murrisk
surmise as to the identity of those depicted. One of
Friary.
the masons who worked on the building could have
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included a self-portrait or perhaps the patron
was featured.
Hourihane (2003) has
suggested that the majority of the carved
human heads featured in medieval Irish
Gothic buildings must represent people from
the upper echelons of society, as many wear
elaborate headdresses and jewellery around
their necks.
When the Cistercian Order was
introduced to Ireland by Saint Malachy in
1142, they brought with them the claustral
plan which was to become the standard in
monastic layout. This plan has a cloister or
courtyard at its centre, with the church on
one side of the cloister and the domestic or
Twin-light ogee-headed window
conventual buildings arranged in an
in the east wall.
integrated order around the other three sides.
The mendicant orders adopted this plan, a layout that survives intact at Moyne
Franciscan Friary. It was more suited to houses with larger populations,
however. Smaller houses, such as Murrisk, often favoured the L-shaped plan.
Having a smaller population, they did not require the large, many-roomed
domestic ranges of bigger houses. Instead, a single wing could be sufficient to
incorporate the necessary sacristy, chapter house, kitchen, refectory and
dormitory. At Murrisk, the range of conventual buildings is housed on two
floors to the north of the church.
The east range of buildings in Murrisk friary has three rooms on its ground
floor. The sacristy is a long, narrow room in the familiar location to the north
of the church. It is lit by a single, narrow, round-headed window with a
chamfered intrados. North of this is the chapter room with its cusped ogeeheaded window. The hood moulding on the north side of this window tapers
off into a knot and then expands to form a foliate ornament. Typically for the
Late Irish Gothic style, this motif has no counterpart on the south side of the
window, where the hood moulding simply culminates in a point. A
characteristic of the Late Irish Gothic style is that ornament is applied sparsely
in a random and unpredictable fashion. A third room is located at the northern
end of this range, although its purpose is unclear. It has a doorway in its north
wall over which is located a two-light switchline tracery window. Leask (1943)
states that the entire upper floor of this range was used as a dormitory.
Therefore as this window is the largest on this level, it would have been the
main source of light for the dormitory.
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There is no indication of where the refectory or kitchen would have been
located in this friary. One of these may have been in the northernmost room of
the east range, but the location of the other and of the various other rooms that
would have been required for any friary are unclear. This lends credence to the
notion that there must once have been at least one more range in this friary.
Leask (1943) suggests the possibility that there may have been a range
projecting northwards from the western end of the church and another lying
north of the cloister space, however no traces of these remain. He also
contends that based on the evidence of flashing along the north wall of the
church and west wall of the domestic range, a cloister walk was planned but it
was probably never built.
Artefacts
Ó Móráin (1957) discusses two relics, Fiacail Phádraig, the Shrine of
Saint Patrick’s Tooth, and the Black Bell of Saint Patrick, which he suggests
may have been venerated at Murrisk Friary in the late medieval period.
Pilgrimage was an important phenomenon in the medieval period and varied
from the local level to major pilgrimages to such destinations as Rome,
Jerusalem and Santiago. Murrisk Friary is the traditional starting point for the
pilgrimage to the top of Croagh Patrick and this would certainly have been a
suitable viewing point for relics associated with the saint. Books, bells and
croziers were, as Lucas (1986) points out, the standard accessories of a saint
and were often preserved as relics. A significant amount of corporeal relics
were also produced. These are human body parts, believed to be those of a
particular saint, which are encased in a reliquary and used as objects of
devotion. Teeth were, of course, the only corporeal relics that could usually be
obtained from a saint during life, hence the value of tooth shrines such as
Fiacail Phádraig. The Fiacail Phádraig is horseshoe-shaped and has a
crucifixion scene on the front. An inscription names the saints depicted as
‘Benen, Brigida, Patric, Columcille and Brendan’, although only four of the
original five gilt figures now remain. Thomas de Bermingham of Athenry
commissioned alterations to the shrine in the fourteenth century (Ó Floinn,
1994), although it dates from the twelfth century.
Bells of iron and bronze are associated with the early Christian church in
Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany. They were principally used as handbells to call the faithful to prayer. The Black Bell of Saint Patrick was also said
to have been used by the Saint to banish demons from Croagh Patrick and has
been dated to the period 600–900AD. It is made of iron with a coating of
bronze, although this coating is now only partial. The Black Bell or Cloch
Dubh was acquired by Sir William Wilde in 1840 for the collection of the Royal
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Irish Academy. He stated that if “wear and tear is a sign of age, this antique
should claim our highest veneration” (Wilde, 1955, p. 102). At an earlier stage,
the bell had belonged to the parish of Killower, near Headford in County
Galway, where it was believed to have been given to Saint Patrick by an angel.
Folklore held that it was made of silver originally, but “by its contact with the
demons on Croagh Patrick, when the apostle was expelling them thence it had
turned black and become corroded” (O’Flaherty, 1846, p. 370).
In addition to the medieval artefacts associated with Murrisk Friary, there
are also post-medieval artefacts associated with the friary, which indicate
continuity of settlement and use of these sites into the seventeenth century. The
Viscount Mayo Chalice, for example, bears the following inscription:
“Ora pro animab (us) Dni Theobaldi Vicecomitis Mayo et uxoris ejus Meow ny
Cnochoure qui me fieri fecerunt pro monasterio de Mureske. Ani Dni 1635”
(Pray for the souls of Theobald Lord Viscount Mayo and his wife, Maud
O’Conor, who caused me to be made for the monastery of Murrisk 1635).
The chalice was, in fact, commissioned in 1635 by Maud O’Conor in
honour of her late husband, Theobald Burke (also known as Tibbott-ne-Long),
a son of Granuaile. It continued to be used by the friars at Murrisk into the
eighteenth century (Chambers, 1983). A slightly later fabrication is the
Murrisk Chalice, manufactured in Galway by Richard Joyce (Blake, 1928). Its
inscription states that it was commissioned by an Augustinian named John de
Burgo for the convent of Murrisk in 1648.
Conclusion
The Annals of the Four Masters for the year 1537 state that “the men of
England went into opposition to the Pope and to Rome . . . and they styled the
King the Chief Head of the Church of God in his own kingdom” (O’Donavan,
1990, p.1445). This refers to the passing of the Act of Supremacy declaring the
king the supreme head of the church in England. This break with Rome arose
from Henry VIII’s wish to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn
and the Pope’s refusal to sanction this. Henry also began a policy of
suppression of the monasteries, whereby monasteries were dissolved and their
assets appropriated by the crown. A number of motives gave rise to this
decision. It could be attributed to Henry’s reforming zeal as many monastic
houses had plunged into severe decline by this time. In addition, Henry saw
the monasteries as foci of resistance to his anti-papal policies and needed to
liquidate funds for war with France. His advisor Thomas Cromwell had
promised that dissolving the monasteries would make him “the richest prince
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in Christendom” (Ives, 1994, p. 399).
In common with many small religious houses in rural Ireland, Murrisk
Friary avoided such a fate in the Henrician Reformation and only fell prey to
suppression in 1578 (Gywnn and Hadcock, 1988) during the reign of Elizabeth
I. Even at this time the dissolution of the friary was not altogether effective, as
is evidenced by the continued occupation and patronage of the friary. Remote
from the centre of power in Ireland and under the protection of powerful local
families, religious houses like Murrisk Friary were quite successful in evading
the Crown’s reforming gaze and continuing to serve the community well after
their ostensible dissolution.
Bibliography
Blake, M.J. (1928). Some old silver chalices connected with the counties of Galway and
Mayo. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Vol. 58, No. 1, pp. 22–43.
Chambers, A. (1983). Chieftain to Knight: Tibbot-ne-Long Bourke (1567–1629).
Wolfhound Press, Dublin.
Corlett, C. (2001). Antiquities of West Mayo. Wordwell, Bray.
Gwynn, A., and Hadcock, R.N. (1988). Medieval Religious Houses Ireland. Irish
Academic Press, Dublin.
Hourihane, C., (2003). Gothic Art in Ireland, 1169–1550: Enduring Vitality. Yale
University Press, London.
Ives, E.W. (1994). Anne Boleyn and the early reformation in England: The
contemporary evidence. The Historical Journal. Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 389-400.
Knowles, D.D. (1962). The Religious Orders in England (3 Volumes). Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
Leask, H.G. (1943). Murrisk Abbey, County Mayo. Journal of the Royal Society of
Antiquaries of Ireland. Vol. 73, part 4, pp. 137–141.
Lucas, A.T., (1986). The social role of relics and reliquaries in ancient Ireland. Journal
of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Vol. 116, pp. 5–37.
Martin, F.X. (1961). The Irish Augustinian reform movement in the fifteenth century.
In: Watt, J.A. Morrall, J.B. and Martin, F.X. (eds), Medieval Studies: Presented to
Aubrey Gwynn, SJ. Colm Ó Lochlainn, Dublin.
Ó Clabaigh, C.N. (2002). The Franciscans in Ireland, 1400–1534: From Reform to
Reformation. Four Courts Press, Dublin.
O Donavan, J. (ed) (1990). The Annals of the Four Masters. Third Edition. De Búrca
Press, Dublin.
O’Flaherty, R. (1846). West or H-Iar Connaught. Irish Archaeological Society, Dublin.
Ó Floinn, R. (1994). Irish Shrines and Reliquaries of the Middle Ages. Country House,
Dublin.
Ó Móráin, P. (1957). Five Hundred Years in the History of Murrisk Abbey 1457–1957.
Mayo News, Westport.
Otway, C. (1839). A Tour in Connaught. William Curry, Dublin.
Quinn, J.F. (1993). History of Mayo, Volume II. Brendan Quinn, Ballina.
Watt, J. (1998). The Church in Medieval Ireland. Second Edition. University College
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Dublin Press, Dublin.
Wilde, W. (1955). Loch Coirib, its Shores and Islands. Fourth Edition. Sign of the
Three Candles, Dublin.
Yvonne McDermott is a graduate of Galway–Mayo Institute of Technology, Castlebar,
where she completed a B.A. in Heritage Studies and a Master of Arts by research. Her
thesis was based on the mendicant friaries in late medieval Mayo. She works in the
National Museum of Ireland – Country Life.
Pattern Mass at Murrisk 2005.
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Western Folklore in
Modern Ballads?
Alf MacLoughlin
The author of the following four songs was my late brother John
McGloughlin, with whom I shared an enthusiasm for traditional popular verse
in the manner of the broadside ballad. Like another enthusiast, Richard
Hayward, who had a similar interest, John McGloughlin was by profession a
representative of a large confectionary manufacturing company.
He took a fairly uncritical attitude towards tales he picked up from
colleagues in the commercial rooms of hotels throughout the country and
welcomed such tales if they proved useful as themes for versing. At least one
of his songs was printed as a broadside by my late friend Ms.‘Paul’ Pollard, at
St. Sepulchre’s Press. It was an ingenious parody on a well-known drinking
song, and was composed to mark the introduction many years ago of the
breathalyser test for motorists; it began
The breathalyser I’ve been told will put new curbs on drinking
But crystals green will not be seen until you’re absolutely stinking . . .
and ending
We’ll hire a car, it’s better by far, when I’m drunk my driving is atrocious
So my wife I’ll phone and she can drive me home
Because I’m stocious . . .
S T O C I O U S.
His author statement on that sheet simply read ‘by the author of the Ballad
of Louis Lourmais’, who, it will be remembered, with a comrade, one Vinton
Lloyd, had set out to make a small-boat Atlantic crossing, in the footsteps, or
rather the wake, of St. Brendan the Navigator. Unfortunately and rather
ignominiously, their voyage came to a very early end when they fetched up on
an island off the Mayo coast. Unfortunate, but an ideal subject for a topical
mock-heroic ballad.
The four ballads given here have a more tenuous relationship with
historical reality.
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New and Startling Lines on the Appearance of a
Mysterious stranger
The story I’m about to tell has never yet been told
But if you’ll pay attention all the facts I will unfold.
The people where it happened know the story very well
But frightened people will not tell a tale that starts in hell.
A stranger met a maiden near a crossroads in Mayo
Where the neighbours used to gather at a bonfire long ago
They used to sing and dance all night to pass the time away
And when the smouldering fire was gone, go home by dawn of day.
Each year they held this bonfire and then neighbours all took part
The fuel that was needed all arrived by ass and cart
One family was chosen every year to clear the site
Of the bottles and the ash accumulated through the night.
This stranger and the maid arrived and other folk as well
Not knowing that amongst them there was one who’d come from hell
They sang and danced and danced and sang and just before the dawn
The local maiden and the stranger, both it seemed had gone.
They vanished off the earth it seems and never could be found
Her family they searched for her, they scoured the hills around
But they could not find a trace of her although they hunted well
Nor of the man, since then he’s called the stranger out of hell.
With carts and spades this family came to clean up the crossroads
By noon the donkeys and their cart had moved a hundred loads
They worked away all through the day and beneath the ash they found
The devil’s mark, a cloven hoof, was stamped into the ground
The workers they were frightened so they scattered and went home
They asked the priest to exorcise, they even wrote to Rome
But no one paid attention though their story it was true
And year by year the local superstition grew and grew.
There’s people still in north Mayo and they can give you proof
For years the earth retained the mark of that dreaded cloven hoof
On a gravel road the wind you’d think would make the imprint go
But it can still be found upon the ground at that crossroads in Mayo.
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The legend that they now believe grows stranger every day
That the maiden was possessed and then was spirited away
But whatever mystery happened her, she never could be found
And the cloven hoof, the devil’s proof, is stamped into the ground.
These verses incorporate a version of an urban legend commonplace in the
50s-60s of the last century, a period characterised by the ‘ballrooms of
romance,’ the Roselands and the like, proliferating particularly throughout the
midlands and west.
As with most urban legends, it must be pinned by each person retailing it
to a highly specific place and time. One well-informed contemporary of those
far-off events (my friend Dick Byrne) advises specifically and light-heartedly:
The ballroom in question was that built by Monsignor Horan in [a place]
near Ballyhaunis in County Mayo called Tooreen, and the story was that this
young lady danced all night with a handsome and debonair stranger, and when
she was about to step into his car to get a lift home she noticed, as he opened
the car door for he, that he had a cloven hoof (lord between us an all harm) and
she ran for her life, whereupon he disappeared. The story is without any real
substance and it was variously rumoured that the devil was in fact Albert
Reynolds or an agent of his sent to divert the huge crowds from Tooreen to his
own Roseland not too far away. It was expected that this would drive away all
the nice clean-living colleens who were more accustomed to dancing at the
crossroads. In fact it had quite the opposite effect and brought bigger crowds
than ever. M. Horan (he of Knock airport) was renowned for hiring only the
best bands and he drew enormous crowds to this oasis in the middle of
nowhere. Of course somebody passed it on to the newspapers and it became a
cause célèbre for a few weeks and then faded. I attended quite a few dances
there myself in those days, but always wore shoes over my cloven hooves.
The kernel of the story is obviously what reached John and was base
enough for him to erect on it the above verses, and I am confident that he would
have accepted the form of title I have devised.
Consoling Lines on the Efficacy of Prayer
for a Happy Death
Air: Any melody that fits
Come all you people round about, and listen to my tale
It is a true adventure and would make a brave man quail
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It is a true adventure and it happened long ago
‘Twas in the hills above Maam Cross, towards the mountains of Mayo
And in the wilds above Maam Cross you’d scarcely hear a sound
But the silence it was shattered as men dug and drilled the ground
Drilling holes for dynamite to lay a level road
They had plans they say to change the way the little rivers flowed.
Well they dug and drilled and drilled and dug and blasted rocks and stones
‘Twas said that they uncovered many prehistoric bones
A young apprentice lit a fuse, and before they could run clear
A great explosion rocked the land and was heard from far and near
There was just one man beside the blast and it blew him to the sky
And no one there who witnessed it could possibly deny
It blew him higher than you could see in the clear and lucid air
And when at last he returned to earth he had no scalp or hair.
The explosion caused a crater that was shaped just like a chair
How strange then as he landed to see him sitting there
His eyes were bright he wore a frown as he sat there on the stone
‘It’s a miracle I’m alive,’ he said, ‘to heaven and back I’ve flown.’
He spoke to his associates and said he was alright
But as they stared in wonder sure they got an awful fright
From just below his forehead where his heavy frown they saw
There was nothing more than blood and gore and the movement of his jaw.
Once again he said ‘I am alright, I will not die just yet,
I’ll stay alive for an hour or two until the priest you get
So hurry now away with you and let you not delay
For I do not think I’ll last too long, I’ll just sit here and pray.’
One member of the company, he was a virile man
He stood, stripped off his jacket and down the hills he ran
He scorned the paths and roadways, cross country he did go
For he knew the roads and pathways and he knew they’d be too slow.
Well he travelled over mountains wild and valleys so green
He surely was the fastest that the world has ever seen
When he arrived at Tully Cross, he showed the priest the way
The priest he saddled up his horse, and galloped all the day
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And when at last he reached the spot our friend was very low
He gave him extreme unction and he watched him slowly go
But just before he died he gave a shout both loud and clear
‘I knew that I could stay alive until the priest got here.’
As I said at the beginning it’s a true tale I did tell
There’s many people near Maam Cross who know it very well
A man was dying slowly and he knew he hadn’t long
But he stayed alive,’ til the priest arrived, as I told you in my song.
Here an exemplary tale such as might have graced the pages of The
Imeldist or some such simple-minded publication, but located in a setting as
realistic as the American Drill ye tarriers drill, with its brutal ‘You were docked
for the time you were up in the sky.’ Was the road-gang around whom this yarn
is spun perhaps building the Galway to Clifden railway?
Merry Verses on a Bountiful Storm in Dublin Bay
Air: Get away old man get away
Come listen while I tell you about a fateful trip
Brave heroic voyage of a small but sturdy ship
They sailed away from England, set course for Dublin town
But they got a fright in the middle of the night, they feared they would all drown
For a storm arose quite suddenly, and the wind it blew a gale
And the Bailey light disappeared from sight in the snow and the sleet and the
hail
Chorus
And the skipper lost his way
He got lost in Dublin Bay
Well he didn’t stay right of the Poolbeg light
That’s how he went astray.
And when the storm abated, they found they were aground
They didn’t know where but they didn’t care, they were glad they were not
drowned
They had a heavy cargo, it was stowed both fore and aft
Said the skipper to his loyal crew, ’we’ve got to save this craft.’
They were high and dry on a sandbank, said the skipper ‘’bless my soul,’
But the first mate swore, as he stepped ashore ‘we’ve got to shift that coal.’
Well they stepped across the gunwale, praise God, they didn’t sink
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And they just strolled down to Irishtown for a celebration drink
The locals came in hundreds to lend a helping hand
There’s never been a busier scene on the shores of Ringsend strand.
They came with prams and barrows to help to make her float
With bags and sacks upon their backs they emptied out the boat.
She floated on the next day’s tide to the locals’ claps and cheers
They’d coal galore in many a store, enough for years and years.
For they stored it in the attics and in the basements too
In garden sheds and under beds and in the outside loo.
The ship she sailed for England, and landed safe and well
They made hearts quail when their terrible tale the crew did oft-times tell.
Chorus
Of the time they nearly drowned
Of the time they nearly drowned
But they walked to land on Ringsend strand when the good ship went aground
Here we are in the presence of real history. My late brother John was six
years my junior, and was only five years old and so not free as I was to go down
from our house in Sandymount to Beach Road to see the remarkable sight of a
ship, leaning heavily to one side, left stranded high and dry by the retreating
tide, having missed the entrance to Dublin port. She was carrying coal, and I
saw a succession of horses and carts taking the coal ashore by one of the few
ramped slopes that gave access between strand and road. This single image I
retained, and the name of the ship, of which John, hearing the tale in after life,
would have no memory. That name was Solway Lass and I have no idea why
it should have stuck in my mind. But it did, and so I was able to conduct an
enquiry for her particulars via the internet.
Remarkably, she is still in commission, though built, in Holland, a two
masted steel schooner, as long
ago as 1902. She traded in the
Baltic,was seized by the British in
1915 and served as a Q-ship. In
the inter-war years she changed
hands several times and once took
twenty-seven days for a voyage
with slates from a Welsh port to
Holland. It was in March 1937,
with a cargo of coal out of
The Solway Lass today.
Liverpool, that she missed the
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entrance to Dublin port and suffered the indignity of being stranded off
Sandymount. Successfully re-floated as detailed by John in his ballad, she had
further adventures when damaged by striking a mine during the second World
War. Eventually, in private hands again, she was taken to the South Pacific
where she sailed among the islands, took part in tall ship rallies and, re-fitted,
became what she remains to this day, a working-holiday cruise ship based in
New Zealand.
Lines on the Disastrous Recovery of Flotsam at Ringsend
Air: The garden where the praties grow
Come listen while I tell you of what happened long ago
It happened down in Ringsend where the Liffey waters flow
It was a strange occurrence and I swear that it is true
And the nurses and the doctors sure they knew not what to do.
The story all began it seems when a barge, it hit a spike
Was it a bit of bicycle or an ancient rusted pike?
Suddenly the water rushed into the stricken boat
And the crew they manned the pumps to try to keep the craft afloat.
Well they pumped and pumped with all their might but she started to go down
There wasn’t any panic for they knew they would not drown
They jumped into the icy water, cold as any fridge
They were lent a hand and came to land a bit below Butt Bridge.
The company who owned the barge were a company of note
More concerned about the cargo than [they were] about the boat
For every piece recovered a reward they said they’d pay
So a large Ringsend flotilla started searching Dublin Bay.
With rowboats and with dinghies oh they braved the ocean swell
They paddled up the river and the braved the Liffey smell
For every piece of cargo they’d been told they’d get a pound
So they searched and kept on searching until every piece was found.
It was then the strange disease occurred and it seemed to spread and spread
There were many Ringsend families with three or four in bed
The women couldn’t understand what had happened to their men
For they just got up and had a sup and went back to bed again.
The sickness lasted just two weeks and then it went away
It must have been some bug, they said, they caught in Dublin bay
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But someone called the company who sent a man around
And for every barrel that he got he handed out a pound.
The barrels were all empty, and how strange it is to tell
Just after their collection, all the Ringsend folk got well
‘Twas many months thereafter, that the truth it all came out
That they all had drunk excessively of Guinness Extra Stout.
Little comment is required with this ballad, which embodies yet another
version of the true story of the event – the wreck of the Politician in the
Scottish islands with a cargo of liquor – which became the basis of the
Compton Mackenzie Tight Little Island, which became the basis of the amusing
Alexander MacKendrick 1949 film Whisky Galore . . .
Alf MacLoughlin took early retirement in
1987 after a career in academic
librarianship. Since then he has been
inaugural holder of the annual Chair in Irish
Studies at Boston College and continues to
write in Irish and English. Recent works
include: an essay commemorating the
centenary of the Russian Black Sea fleet
(Comhar, 2005); verse, essays and surrealist
short stories in The Recorder, journal of the
American Irish Historical Society; the
monograph From Tipperary to Joseph’s
Prairie . . . Joe Ryan, the seventh man in Hayes’s Hotel (at the foundation of the
G.A.A.), (County Tipperary Historical Society, 2002); Farasbarr feasa ar Éirinn . . .
(kindly treatment of certain oddities in Dinneen’s dictionary) (Coiscéim, 2005); and
(with Margaret Glover) Letters of an Irish Patriot: William Paul Dowling in Tasmania
(Tasmanian Historical Records Association, 2005)
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Some Unusual Piscinae at
Ballintubber Abbey and
Elsewhere
Jim Higgins
Piscinae are generally bowl-shaped features or flat stones with holes in
them which allowed water used in the washing of hands before consecration at
Mass and for the washing of the sacred vessels after Communion in the same
ceremony, to be disposed of in the fabric of a church. The vessels would include
chalices, patens and cruets. Piscinae have been a feature of Christian Churches
since they were said to have been introduced by Pope Leo IV in the 9th
Century. The word Piscina is derived from the Latin word for both a basin and
a fishpond.1
The drain stone with its recess or bowl was designed to allow the water to
return to the earth through the walling in which the Piscina was held and, apart
from being a simple means of disposal, also prevented the abuse of such water
in black-magic rituals. Piscinae could project like corbel-shaped bowls from
the wall of the Church and were invariably positioned close to the altar and the
side altars. They could occasionally be corbel or bracket-shaped projections but
more often than not they were positioned within a recess or a niche, (as the
majority of Irish examples were). In other instances they projected from the
base of a niche or recess and the basal stone of the niche projected from the
wall of the church while the niche and its surround were flush or mainly flush
(apart from decorative surrounds and mouldings) with the Church wall. This
type is commonly found in Britain. Others were set in the Church floor while
others again were set in the corners of a window jamb near the altar, or were
formed from a basin attached to the top of a drilled pillar or pilaster shaft. All
of these latter types are rare in Ireland. Their use was abandoned when the
office of washing the vessels began to be done in the Sacristy. In this country
the bowl (or bowls) are often cut in the flat, basal stone of a niche that can be
plain or ornamented. This fasal stone rarely projects (as a ledge) more than a
few centimetres from the surface of the wall. Single bowls were common early
on, double bowls were common in the medieval period and single bowls were
again common2 in late medieval times.
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Two separate piscina bowls of highly unusual form occur at Ballintubber
Abbey, Co. Mayo, one in each of the two side chapels to the South of the Nave.
They are not housed in a recess or niche as nearly all Irish medieval examples
are, but are instead formed from bracket-shaped or corbel shaped stones which
simply project from the walls of the Church and are not equipped with niches.
The Ballintubber Abbey “Bracket-Piscina” or “Corbel-Piscina” (as they may be
called) are paralleled only in very rare instances in Ireland. They belong to a
small group of late Romanesque and Transitional features of the circa 1200 or
of the 13th century generally which deserve to be better know. They are
reminiscent in their form of an example from New Ross, Co. Wexford, and in
their function to the unusual water-draining feature at Trinity Abbey, Lough
Key, Co. Roscommon.3 Their function, and construction details and the way
water was channelled in late Romanesque Architecture, was sometimes
complex as can be seen, for example, in the details of the very fragmentary
lavabo from Mellifont Abbey, Co. Louth.4 These simpler water drainage
features are based however on the same principles.
Most of the bowls of Irish piscinae are circular or cut in the shape of a
marigold or rosette and the vast majority have a cylindrical perforation in the
centre of the bowl. One would generally have to lean into the niche to see or to
use the piscina in most Irish churches.
The two piscinae at Ballintubber Abbey, County Mayo are of the bracketshaped type and provide rare Irish examples of what might be referred to as
‘Bracket Piscinal’. The Ballintubber examples are described in some detail and
their forms and date are discussed. Some
Fig.2 Head-Shaped Bracket – Piscina
(No.2) at Ballintubber Abbey
Photograph: J. Higgins
Fig 1 Corbel – Shaped BracketPiscina (No. 1) at Ballintubber
Abbey.
Photograph: J. Higgins.
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Irish and British parallels for the type of piscina are also discussed briefly.
NO. 1 - PISCINA
BOWL CARVED IN IMITATION OF A MOULDED CORBEL IN THE
SIDE CHAPEL TO THE
SOUTH, AT THE NAVE, BALLINTUBBER ABBEY.
The first Ballintubber piscina bowl is shaped like a capital of typically
early 13th Century type and has Transitional style ornament. In fact, the bowl
is based on the sort of corbel such as occurs elsewhere in Ballintubber Abbey.
The object has a semi-circular base and is ribbed on grooved sides. This
ornament is wider at the top and tapers inwards towards the bottom. The front
and sides have a simple groove and a slight narrow roll moulding. Below this
is scalloped ornament that gives way to tapering half circular mouldings with
grooves between them. A semi-circular moulded ‘collar’ with bevelled eyes
occurs at the bottom of the bowl. The underside of this semi circular part of the
base is plain and unworked but one wonders whether it might have also been
attached to an engaged pilaster shaft and base, of which there is now no trace.
The interior of the bowl is moulded and tapers inwards towards its base. The
mouldings around the unlinear of the rectangular bowl are also rebated.
Perhaps a wooden lid was inserted to cover the bowl when it was not in use.
The sides of the bowl taper inwards markedly towards the base and a deep
groove occurs at the back of the bowl, which continues into the interior of the
wall where the water, used in the washing of the sacred vessels and the
celebrant’s hands, flowed.
Fig. 3 Bracket-Piscina at New Ross (St. Mary’s Church), Co.
Wexford.
Photograph: Jim Higgins
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NO. 2 - PISCINA BOWL CARVED IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN HEAD
CHAPEL TO THE SOUTH OF THE NAVE, BALLINTUBBER ABBEY.
IN THE
SIDE
The second piscina bowl is shaped like a large human head with heavy-set
features. The face is wide and the eyes are almond-shaped. The nose has
suffered some damage and so has the area around the mouth and chin which is
mostly broken away. The bridge and tip of the rather long nose are damaged.
What may be nostrils seem to occur. The mouth is broken away.
Grooves representing hair occur on each side of the head and the hair is
swept back over the ears. It is likely that the hair had a central parting at the top
of the forehead but this is now heavily worn. The ears are roughly D-shaped.
The edge of the bowl is worn smooth from use. The bowl itself is circular
in shape, flat-bottomed and shallow. A deep U-shaped groove in the back of the
stone lets the water into the depths of the wall in which the stone is set.
The head looks male and has heavy jaws and wide cheeks. The stone is
patinated and polished from touching especially in the higher areas. The
carving is reminiscent of some early gargoyles like those from Old Ross, Co.
Wexford.5
Most British piscinae (like the Irish ones) are set in the depths of niches. In
other cases the base of the piscina projects just slightly from the general face of
the Church wall as at Cowling, Suffolk (Fig. 4(F) ). In many other instances too
the projecting stoop-shaped or bracket-shaped features are combined together
as at Crowmarsh in Oxfordshire or at Great Bedwin in Wiltshire (Figs 4(E) and
Fig. 4(G) ) respectively. An elaborate example at Cobhan in Kent (Fig. 4(H))
combines a slightly projecting piscina with a very elaborate recessed niche,
British examples with no niche and with the projecting ‘bracket’ or ‘stoupshaped’ bowl are rarer.
Irish examples of this type of stoup or bracket shaped piscine-bowl are
very rare indeed.
Parallels
The Ballintubber bracket piscinae are difficult to parallel but a very similar
example occurs at New Ross, Co. Wexford. The New Ross example is a simple
rectangular one with the interior of the bowl having a shallow faceted
depression and, in the middle of the inner side of the bowl, has a U-shaped
pipe-like perforation leading into the core of the wall. The underside of the
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bowl is bevelled. Just below the upper edge of the bowl is simple groove
‘moulding’. The New Ross bracket-piscina is of sandstone and bears shallow
traces of linear tooling, some running diagonally, some horizontally.
Fig. 4 Piscinae (after Banister Fletcher’s A History of
Architecture on the Comparative Method, London 1928)
By far the best (and the most easily datable stylistically) example of a
bracket-piscina is the example at O’Heyne’s Church in Kilmacduagh, Co.
Galway. This bears stylized foliate ornament. The object (Figure 5) is
trapezoidal in outline and the bowl is decorated with foliate ornament similar
to that found on the capitals of the Chancel Arch nearby. A small orifice at the
back of the bowl leads into the thickness of the wall. The object is rectangular
in shape on top with a bevelled edge to the bowl. Its front face is wedge-shaped
and it tapers inwards towards the bottom where there is a projecting moulded
lip. The underside of the stone is plain. The object is carved from limestone.
Transitional style ornament of the early 13th century abounds in the chancel in
which the stone is set, whether on the Chancel Arch or on the East window.
This bracket-piscina, set in the southern wall of the chancel, is 16.3 cms, wide,
Fig. 5B
Fig. 5A
Fig. 5A and 5B Bracket or Corbel-shaped piscina at the O’Heyne’s Church,
Kilmacduagh, Co. Galway.
Photograph: J. Higgins
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14.4 cms. high and projects a maximum of 17.2 cms. from the wall of the
Church.
An indirect parallel for the piscinal of the type described above is to be
found in the water-draining feature at Trinity Abbey, Lough Key, Co.
Roscommon.6 Here, water poured into a piscina niche in the exterior of the East
wall of the Church makes its exit through a perforated stone on the inside of the
gable. The stone through which the exit hole for the water is cut is weathered
but is slightly higher than the rest of the walling of the exterior of the gable and
seems to have borne a projecting piece of decoration. Perhaps it bore a low
relief gargoyle – like a face or some other similar decoration. The wall of the
chancel in which it is set dates to circa 1220. This feature is described by Clyne
(2005, p37):
“Unusual features in the chancel are two small holes positioned one above the
other that pierce the east wall Figs 3 and 4; plates V and VI. Beneath the holes
cup shaped depressions are carved onto projecting stones and there is a narrow,
downward groove on the stone underneath the upper stone inside the chancel.
According to tradition, the holes conveyed water from the outside of the church
to the sanctuary for blessing. Water poured into the upper hole outside, flowed
through the wall into the lower hole inside, returning via the lower hole
externally. Furthermore the projecting stone underneath the lower external stone
is perforated – presumably to collect the holy water in a receptacle placed
beneath it.”
In terms of complex water management through stone drainage features the
piscina discussed above may be compared with more complex features such as
the fragments of a lavabo found at Mellifont Abbey, Co. Louth which was
erected circa 1200-1210. In general these bracket/corbel like piscina are like
gargoyles in reverse. The water flows into the projecting bowl and flows with
the thickness of the wall, in the case of the piscine, while the water flows from
wall heads through apertures between saddle stones and through various
apertures in a wall and out through the projecting feature, in the case of
gargoyles. Irish gargoyles began to appear from the 12th century.
Apart from the New Ross example other Irish parallels are hard to find. A
lavabo at Mellifont Abbey, Co. Louth, which was reduced to fragments by the
19th Century, but seems to survive in ‘replica’ form at Townley Hall and which
has been published by Rodger Stalley (1996)7 has, to an extent, features in
common with corbels or piscinae in that the bowls of the lavabo project from
the walls of that fountain-like feature but the similarity is only a general one,
and the projecting bowls of the Mellifont lavabo are best paralled in English
lavabos. The shape of the bowls are also reminiscent of English piscina-niche
bowls.
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In general, bracket or corbel-shaped-piscinae are rare in Ireland but there
may be other examples that await discovery. All in all the Ballintubber and New
Ross piscinae are examples of Transitional craftsmanship of C1200 or early
13th century date and it is hoped that their publication may bring further Irish
examples to light.
Footnotes
1. Murray, P. and Murray, L. (1998) The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and
Architecture, Oxford and New York 1998, pp394-5. These writers cite some fine
decorative double piscinae at the Lady Chapels of Exeter and Salisbury Cathedrals
and another in the NE transept of the latter. Most piscinae which now survive are
medieval in date.
2. Bottomley, F. (1995) The Church Explorer’s Guide to Symbols and their meaning,
Otley, West Yorkshire, 2nd edn 1995, pp130-131.
3. See Clyne, M. (2005) 37, Figs 3 and 4 plates V and VI.
4. For the Melifont Abbey lavabo see Stalley. R, (1996).
5. Higgins, J. (2007) See Cat. No. 8.
6. Lyne, ibid, op cit.
7. See Stalley (1996) 237-264.
References
Bottomley, F. (1995) The Church Explorer’s Guide to Symbols and their Meaning,
Otley, West Yorkshire, (2nd edn) 1995.
Clyne, M. (2005) “Archaeological Excavations at Holy Trinity Abbey, Lough Key, Co.
Roscommon”, Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. 105c, No. 2, 2005, pp2-98.
Fletcher, B. (1928) A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method, for students,
craftsmen and amateurs, (8th edn.) London, 1928.
Higgins, J. (2007) Irish Gargoyles and Related Grotesques, Galway, 2007.
Murray, P. and Murray, L. (1998) The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and
Architecture, The key to Western Arts Most Potent Symbolism, (2nd edn) Oxford and
New York 1998.
Stalley, R. (1996) “Decorating the Lavabo: Late Romanesque Sculpture at
Mellifont Abbey”, Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. 96C, No. 7, (1996), 237-264.
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1798 and 1922 – Another Folkloric Echo
Jim Higgins
In 1984, while engaged in fieldwork in the Clonbur Area of Co. Galway, I
asked directions off a local man to an old cemetery. While engaged in
conversation the name “Gilly Gaddy Gatty” arose as a fascinating aside to our
conversation. The version of the name as I have given it is that which I
understood from the man’s pronunciation as I heard it at the time. The context
in which it arose is of interest from the points of view of folklore, linguistics
and the historical impact of the personage it referred to. It also illustrates
people’s attitude to historic events and individuals, and the longevity of folk
memory.
The man, with whom I spoke, was probably seventy five to eighty years of
age at the time and the context in which he mentioned “Gilly Gaddy Gatty” was
as follows:
His dog had run off while we spoke and was almost knocked down by a passing
car. The dog’s owner was both concerned and annoyed and mentioned that the
pup would “follow anyone”. At one stage, he exclaimed, “The curse of Gilly
Gaddy Gatty on that dog”.
Some time later, after being shown as far as the stone and site which I
wanted to see, I asked who Gilly Gaddy Gatty was. My guide said that he was
“some class of a Stater, the time of the troubles”. I took the troubles to be the
Civil War (rather than the War of Independence, the war to which the term
“The Troubles” most often applies) because of the Stater reference, as he
clearly was referring to ‘Stater’ in the context of a Free ‘Stater’ or individual
who took the Pro-Treaty side in the Civil War. The politics of my guide were
very obviously Republican! I had not come across Gilly Gaddy Gatty (as I
imagined the name to be) again until I read the 1999 volume of Cathair na
Mart and Seán de Búrca’s account of “An Echo of 1798” in which the history
of Dáití na Minóige’s would-be betrayal by Giolla an Gheata is recounted. It
seems obvious to one that the Gilly Gaddy Gatty of Clonbur folk memory is
one and the same as Giolla an Gheata whose doings are described in Seán de
Búrca’s article.
It seems that in the folklore memory of Giolla/Gilly and Gheata/Gatty the
name became transformed into a “rhyming slang” version of his original name.
The Gaddy element would seem to be an Anglicisation of the word Gadaí – a
thief. In folk memory Giolla was considered in popular opinion, it would seem,
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to have been a traitor, a thief and a turncoat.1 The vehemence with which my
guide pronounced “Stater” made it clear that he considered his presumed
political opponents to be contemptible in some way; perhaps treacherous
traitors, or turncoats of some description. In this single term, history, folklore
and historical enmities’ were mirrored in later events and attitudes and speech.
Even if history does not repeat itself exactly (and the cyclical view of history
may be questioned) its echoes can often continue to resonate in language and
attitudes for a very long time.
Footnotes
1. Tá ‘giolla’ sainithe mar ógánach; freastalai, teachtaire, duine, scraiste, diúlach
(giolla na leisce) ins An Foclóir Beag. Ed.
Reference
DeBúrca, S. (1999). “An Echo of 1798”, Cathair na Mart, Journal of the Westport
Historical Society, No. 19, 1999, p.47.
Jim Higgins is Heritage Officer with Galway City Council and was the first such
officer to be appointed in the state, in 1999. He is an archaeologist and art historian and
has contributed to numerous publications.
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The Round Tower in Aghagower
Suzette Hughes
Irish Round Towers are a very distinctive feature of our historical built
environment and the only places outside of Ireland where they are to be seen
are one in the Isle of Man and two in Scotland. These were undoubtedly built
under Irish influence. There are sixty-five Round Towers in Ireland and only
thirteen still remain complete.
Background
It is believed St. Patrick spent some time in Aghagower between 440 and
442 AD. Aghagower was a place of Ecclesiastical importance one thousand
years before the foundations of a town settlement at Westport.
Aghagower was the capital of the Kingdom of Umhall, stretching from
Achill to Louisburgh and as far inland as Castlebar. During the first half of the
fifth Century the Chieftain of Umhall was Sinach and he resided in Aghagower.
When St Patrick came to Aghagower he converted Sinach, baptised him,
ordained him a priest and then consecrated him a Bishop.
Sinach asked three requests of St Patrick, all of which were granted. He
asked that he might not fall into sin; that the place where he ministered might
not take his name and that his son Oengus might get a long life.
Oengus later became a priest and his sister Mathona became a nun and
founded a convent near the site of St Patrick’s original church. St Patrick wrote
a catechism for Oengus.
St Patrick predicted many blessings for Aghagower saying “There will be
good bishops here, and from their seed blessed people will come forth for ever
in this See.”
Aghagower was not only a Patrician foundation but also an Episcopal
Church and as such exercised pre-eminence and jurisdiction over all the
churches in Umhall. The Aghagower church was of such importance as to be
fought over by the Archbishops of Armagh and Tuam. The Archbishop of
Armagh claimed the church lands as belonging to a Patrician foundation and
the Archbishop of Tuam as being within the territory assigned at the Synod of
Kells to that Archdiocese.
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In 1216 Rome decided in favour of Tuam and from then on the church
lands at Aghagower were one of the Episcopal Manors of the Archbishop of
Tuam. It is believed that the Archbishop of Tuam would have taken up
residence in Aghagower from time to time.
Aghagower Round Tower and Medieval Church.
Why was the Round Tower built?
There is not much information available on Aghagower for the period
between St Patrick’s coming and the Norman invasion. The late Jarlath Duffy
R.I.P. wrote the following “After St Patrick, we can assume a fully fledged
monastic settlement in Aghagower for nearly another 1000 years.
Here was the head church of the Kingdom of Umhall – the territory
controlled by the O’Malleys. The church there presided over the 5A’s:
Aghagower, Aughaval, Achill, Aglish (Castlebar) and Aughenish
(Louisburgh)”.
There are at least three theories as to why a Round Tower was built at
Aghagower.
Firstly it seems there was news of a new foundation being built at
Oughaval (Nua Chongbhal) – a branch house of Aghagower. Battles were
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fought with natives and invaders. The downgrading of Aghagower as a
Bishopric was proposed. The natives decided they would not allow this to
happen so to show their supremacy and importance they would build a Round
Tower as had already been done in Mayo Abbey, Cong, Turlough and Balla.
The tower would be a testimony to one of the great centres of Christian learning
and would be seen from afar by travellers and pilgrims alike.
The second theory: The Irish word for Round Tower is “Cloigtheach,”
meaning House of the Bell, but they were not originally belfries in the modern
sense. Hanging bells did not come until the 12th century. However it is believed
the Monks climbed the various floors or landings, to the top windows and hand
bells would have been rung to call the monks in from the fields to prayer or to
warn of approaching danger.
Some say the main purpose of the tower was to house the monastery’s
most valued treasures; the bell, the manuscripts, precious ornaments and the
chalices.
The third theory pertains to Round Towers being built around the time of
the first Viking raids in 795 AD.
They may have served as watchtowers and a place of refuge for the monks
and local people in time of danger. It is known that the Norsemen killed the
King of Umhall in 812AD. And I quote from John Keville in his writings on
the history of Aghagower as follows “It was chiefly the wealth of the
monasteries of Aghagower, which induced the Northmen to land on this
Western strip of coast and it may be inferred that these churches and
monasteries suffered heavily after the crushing defeat of the men of Umhall and
the death of their king in 812AD.There is indeed nothing else to connect
Aghagower with the Viking Period except the Round Tower.
When was the Round Tower built?
It is believed the Round Tower in Aghagower was built between 973 and
1013.
Archaeologists date Round Towers according to their architectural features
and styles of masonry. The earliest towers are of rubble and filled in with small
stones called “spawls.” They had square headed and heavily-lintelled doorways. Those of the Middle and late period are of squared and hammer-dressed
blocks set in courses and the doorways have semi-circular heads as is featured
in Aghagower. Those of the late period were more ornamental around the doors
and windows as at Ardmore Co. Waterford and Devenish in Co. Fermanagh.
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When Brian Boru became High King of Ireland he is reputed to have built
thirty two Round Towers at the beginning of the 11th Century. It is believed
Aughagower and Meelick were built around this same time.
Many more were built in the time of Donagh O Carroll circa 1170.
The Round Tower of Aghagower stands at 16m approx at present. The
average height would have been somewhere between 25-34m. Kilmacduagh in
Galway stands at 34 metres high while Turlough stands at 23m. Nearly every
site is that of a known monastery of the early Celtic Church dating from the 5th
to the 12th Century. Round Towers were usually built close to a graveyard or
beside a river.
A Genuine Round Tower
We know that the Round
Tower in Aghagower is a genuine
round tower because it stands
apart from other buildings, being
close to the medieval church. All
round towers have a standard
design and have similar
dimensions. The foundations
were usually shallow and this
later caused slight leanings. Most
towers stood 6-7 floors high with
offsets in the walls to take the
different floors. Each floor was
reached by a wooden staircase
placed against the wall. Each
floor had a small narrow window.
The top storey had 4 to 6
windows giving a full view over
the landscape. The tower would
be topped with a conical
Complete Round Tower, Killala.
capstone... The door would
always be facing the monastery or Abbey as is evident in Aghagower and
would be raised 1.5m- 4.5m from the ground. This door would be reached by a
rope ladder that could be drawn up. Some Round Towers had an underground
passageway leading to the nearby monastery as in Killala, North Mayo.
It is also said that the higher the base was built without an opening the
stronger the tower would be. The base as high as the doorway was often filled
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with clay and human bones from
the surrounding graveyard giving
it further strength. From the
bones found there, it was
presumed that people were buried
in Round Towers but this is not
correct.
Traditional Round Buildings
It was traditional in Ireland
to build round stone buildings.
The most impressive examples
being the great stone forts like
“The Staigue” in Kerry and the
“Grianán an Aileach” in Donegal,
which was recently restored.
Essentially a Round Tower is
an elongated clochán (a beehive
hut, stone structure).
Tower Door – Aghagower.
But the secret of elongating a
clochán was the use of lime mortar and this method of building was not known
of in pre- Christian Ireland.
There is little doubt that knowledge of this method came to Ireland with the
Christian Missionaries in the latter part of the 5th century. This Roman
technique greatly helped the wave of monastic building that took place after the
coming of Saint Patrick from the 5th to the 7th century.
The internal and external walls of the tower facing each other were made
of local stone and were bound into a core of rubble and mortar concrete.
Internally each storey narrows as it rises with offsets at each floor level. The
whole circle of the wall thus leans in on itself and this is what makes Round
Towers so durable, standing the test of time.
It is believed that most of the towers were the work of teams of builders
who moved from one monastery to another using standard designs. The main
dimensions stay the same. The circumference at the base measures between
14m and 17m and the thickness of the wall at the lowest point varies between
0.9m and 1.4m. Most doorways were raised 1.5m to 4.5m from the ground.
Aghagower’s door is approx 2m from the ground. The doorway at ground level
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would have been added later during peaceful times There is a townland in the
Mountbrown area known as “Creggannaseer” translated as “the hillock of the
craftsmen” and to quote from Brian Mannion’s article Aughagower and it’s
Patrician sites and Connections, “This most certainly refers to the tradesmen
who erected the Abbey and Round Tower. These men would have been
journeymen and would have set up huts or some kind of living quarters while
the Abbey and Round Tower were being constructed”. (Cathair na Mart, Vol.
8, No.1, 1988).
The Legends of the Capstone
John Keville again in his History of Aghagower tells a very interesting
story and I quote, “A very interesting stone which is thought to have been the
top-most stone of the cap of the Tower is preserved. It is a well-cut stone about
2ft high and 1ft in diameter at the base. It weighs 6 or 7 stone. At the top of the
cone is a hole about 3 inches deep and one inch across. This hole is considered
to have held the base of a cross when the stone was in position at the top of the
Tower.
The time the cap of the tower fell is unknown but there are stories
connected with the fall. The story goes that lightning hit the tower with such
force that the roof was carried away for the distance of a mile and deposited in
a field in the townland of Teevinish, where an unexplained heap of stones really
does exist.
Another version of the story says that the disaster happened on the night of
The Big Wind. The conical stone already described was carried off with the rest
of the roof. Next morning a woman from Teevinish found it and brought it
down to Aghagower in her apron”. From Cathair na Mart, Vol. 2, No. 1.
People now say the water in the hole has a cure for warts.
Bibliography
Barrow, Lennox: The Round Towers of Ireland, The Irish Heritage Series.
Notes from Cathair Na Mart, Journal of Westport Historical Society: Vol. 2, No. 1, Vol.
7, No. 1, Vol. 8, No. 1.
Hughes, Harry: An Ancient Mountain Pilgrimage.
Mannion, Brian: Aughagower and its Patrician Sites and Connections.
Harbison, Peter: Guide to the National and Historical Monuments of Ireland.
Duffy, Jarlath R.I.P. Notes on the History of Aghagower.
Suzette Hughes taught in Lankill National School in the parish of Aghagower as
Assistant and Principal for 29 years. Married to Owen she lives on the family farm and
is now a Clinical Hypnotherapist.
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A Young Man’s War
Gerardine Cusack
John Cusack was born in Westport ninety
years ago. He died of heart failure on one of his
daily walks in 2004. Older members of the
Westport community may remember him as a
first-class sportsman. To me he was a hero and
this is his memorial . . .
He joined the Royal Navy on his sixteenth
birthday and the following summer he sailed
out of Plymouth, bound for Alexandria aboard
the light cruiser Galeta. They were ‘going
foreign’ and eager with excitement. These
young men had no idea then that they were to
be involved in a war situation for the following
ten years.
In 1935 the Arab population, in what was
John Cusack
then known as Palestine, was becoming
alarmed at the increase in the number of Jews arriving in the country to escape
Hitler’s anti-Semetic pogrom.
At the time Palestine was administered by Great Britain under a mandate
from the League of Nations and her ships were at hand to monitor what became
know as the Palestine Trouble, and to keep order Galeta was ordered to remain
in Alexandria during that sensitive period. However, by July 1936 she had
moved on to Malta when the news come that Spain’s festering internal troubles
had broken out in civil war between the Government or Republication Party
and Franco’s Nationalists. The extreme Leftists alarmed the rich and were
regarded with suspicion by the Fascist dictators of Germany and Italy. During
the desperate civil war which followed, the Spanish people displayed a heroism
and disregard of suffering which astonished the world.
Far away in London the government was anxious to protect its possessions
in the Mediterranean and Galeta, known as the fastest ship there at the time,
was ordered to sail immediately to Majorca to monitor the course of the
Spanish conflict. The light cruiser completed the thousand odd miles in thirtythree hours and was awarded the Blue Riband of the Mediterranean.
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From then on the ship was based in Palma and patrolled off Barcelona,
Ibiza, Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena, and Malaga, as well as Oran, Tunis and
Cadiz. The sailors visited the ports in cutters and took as much food as they
could spare to allay the growing shortages.
Later in the summer of 1936, now under the leadership of Rear Admiral
Somerville and well within territorial waters, Galeta watched the rout of
Government troops from the small resort of Porto Cristo, Majorca. There was
enormous loss of life. Even the hospital ship with her prominent red crosses
was bombarded. Majorca, on the whole, supported the nationalists and those on
the Government side kept a low profile, but they hoped and expected that
Britain would intervene on their behalf.
One night towards the end of November Galeta was in Barcelona,
anchored next to a ship showing the Irish tricolour, when the city had one of its
heaviest air raids. That was the night she was forced to put up a defensive
barrage from her 4” guns. The following day the ship’s captain was asked to
take refugees to Marseilles. I believe there were sad scenes on the jetty when
she sailed away with women, children and old men. To add to their misery it
was the night she ran into one of the worst storms John ever remembered at sea.
The gulf of Lyons was worse that the North Sea at any time in his memory. The
children had been put to sleep in the sailor’s hammocks. They had whatever
comfort there was. They were all delivered safely in Marseilles in the morning
and were warmly welcomed by the French.
John was back again in Britain in 1938 to face what was known as the
Crisis. He joined HMS Codrington, then preparing for a war that didn’t happen.
For a war that did happen he transferred to HMS Bramble, the leader of the First
Minesweeping Flotilla. On board that ship he spent the first bitter winter of the
Second World War sweeping the ice-cold waters of the North Sea.
During those early days of the war, Bramble had the hazardous task of
towing the mines back to port. They
were too scarce to be blown up at sea.
Bramble is gone now. Her last signal
read “AM ENGAGING 8” CRUISER”.
That would be a ten thousand ton ship
and Bramble carried one 4’’ gun.
John has transferred to the armed
merchant cruiser HMS Cheshire just
before Bramble was lost. This was the
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time when Churchill’s dramatic signal “SINK THE BISMARK” went out to all
ships. Even the Cheshire scoured the ocean, causing her reluctant crew to spend
sixty-three day at sea. Bismark with her 15’’ guns was playing havoc with
British shipping. She was sunk, but not by Cheshire which had been a cruise
liner in peacetime and was not equal to destroying Germany’s powerful
battleship.
During the last two years of the war,
John was escorting convoys across the
wild waters of the North Atlantic. They
were full of admiration for the heroic
crews of the Irish merchant fleet who
sailed alone and undefended over the
most dangerous seas in the world during
the war, to keep the people at home
supplied with the necessities of life.
The sea was John’s life, but he was
lucky to be able to spend his last years in
Ireland playing golf and bowls, and above
all, watching his two sons compete
successfully with the Irish Cycling Team.
John Cusack
Gerardine (Hopkins) Cusack was born in Rosbeg, Westport, and educated in St.
Cuthberga’s Convent, Wimborne, Dorset. She spent the war years in London working in
the Northern Ireland Government Office and married John Cusack in 1944. The family
returned to Ireland in the sixties. Gerardine worked for over twenty years as a Dublin
City and National Tour Guide. She is attached to a writers’ Group in U.C.D.
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Irish Postal History – Part I
Richard Joyce
The idea of message carrying from post to post or stage to stage is almost
as old as history itself. The ancient Greeks, Persians, Chinese and Romans all
has message carrying services in their realms. Messages were inscribed on
discs or tallies worn around the neck of runners or carried in hide bags or
pouches about the waist. With the spread of the Roman Empire into North
Africa, Asia Minor and Western Europe such message carrying services were a
vital means of communication. Runners and horse riders were used to convey
messages on regular routes between the city states of Italy.
By 1483 (Richard III) England had adopted the French system whereby
messages to and from the monarch were relayed by horse-riders from one
recognized post or stop to the next along an established route. This service was
generally performed by cavalry units of the army with orders to carry messages
of the Crown as a matter of priority and security and to relay letters for the
general public when convenient.
Postal development in Ireland was, until 1922, always influenced by
developments in Britain. Due to the historical connection between Ireland and
England the Irish postal system was inherited rather than created.
Domestic mailboat packet services
Mails across the Irish Sea were carried generally by passenger ferry from
Dublin to Holyhead/Chester. (Gough’s Map of Ireland 1567). Howth harbor is
also mentioned in the 1560s. Such early services were irregular and unreliable.
In the early 18th century three sea routes known as ‘Domestic Packets’ were
used for mail crossing of the Irish Sea. Donaghadee / Portpatrick, Holyhead /
Howth and Milford Haven / Waterford. In 1833 the Holyhead to Howth packet
service was transferred to Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire). The Holyhead to
Kingstown route became well established. The first steam packet service was
introduced on this route in 1821. A railway service was extended to the pier in
1859. Between 1860 and 1925 ships operating this route were in fact floating
Post Offices. Mail en route, to and from Dublin, was sorted on board by staff.
Early Developments in Ireland
In Ireland the use of the words ‘Post’ and ‘Litir’ can be found in Irish
documents of the 15th century suggesting that a postal system of sorts was
already in existence. English control of central administration in Ireland
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dictated the need and the pace of development of an Irish postal system. By the
mid 16th century (Edward VI) it was recognized that the existing letter conveyance system was unreliable, very expensive to operate, and required effective
reorganization. Civil and religious unrest in Ireland prompted Queen Elizabeth
I of England (1558-1603) to reform Crown message carrying services. In 1562
Nicholas Fitzsymon, alderman and member of an influential Dublin family,
was appointed as the first official Postmaster of Dublin city. His duties were to
‘receive and dispatch the Queen’s letters and when convenient those of the
general public’. His appointment was originally for twelve years. He paid an
annual charge to the Queen for the position of ‘Official Crown Postmaster’. He
was allowed to keep any extra profits made from ‘message conveyance’.
General Post Office. (G.P.O.)
The earliest Dublin Letter office was
situated near the Castle with living
accommodation provided for postmaster
and staff. From about 1668 it began to
move from one rented premises to
another about the city. In 1811 it was
announced that the Post Office should
have a larger and more permanent
G.P.O. Dublin.
location on Sackville Street (O’Connell
Street). It should have separate General Letter and Penny Post offices with
ample living quarters for the Secretary, his family and his house staff. The
building was designed by Francis Johnston, the Board of Works and Civil
Buildings architect, in Ionic revival style. The foundation stone was laid by the
Lord Lieutenant (Whitworth) on August12th 1814. It was built of Wicklow
granite with a portico of Portland stone. An impressive balustrade tops the front
façade. Three symbolic statues by John Smyth look out from their lofty
pediment. The central statue is that of Hibernia with her harp. To her left stands
Fidelity signifying loyalty and trust in the postal service. To her right stands
Mercury the winged messenger of the gods. The office was first opened for
business on Jan 6th 1818 at a cost of £50,000. The building is now known in
Ireland as the G.P.O. (General Post Office).
On Easter Monday 24/4/1916 just before mid-day Pádraig Pearse read the
‘Proclamation’ in front of the G.P.O. declaring Ireland a Sovereign Independent
Republic. The rebels were mainly drawn from the Irish Volunteers and Irish
Citizen Army. They choose the G.P.O. as their central control and command
post. While motivated by various ideals all were of the common belief that only
an armed revolt could bring about Irish independence. The rebellion was
crushed within a week and its leaders subsequently executed. It however sowed
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the seed of an Irish Republic realized in 1922. Within the main hall a large
bronze statue, “Death of Cúchulain” with raven on shoulder, by Oliver
Sheppard (1934), commemorates the executed leaders of the 1916 uprising.
Unfortunately many Post Office records were also lost in the turmoil.
Early English Postal Reforms
The year 1635 (Charles I) saw Thomas Withering, a wealthy London
merchant, appointed ‘Postmaster of England and Foreign Parts’. He reformed
the English delivery system by establishing regular posts along five main post
roads from London, served by postboys and charging fixed rates for
conveyance. For a single letter sent a distance of 80 miles the charge was 2d.
For a distance of 140 miles the charge was 4d. Up to the Scottish border and
beyond 8d. The addressee usually paid the charges. The charge to Ireland was
9d. A single letter was a single sheet of paper on which the letter was written,
folded on itself with the address on the outside. A double or two page letter
similarly folded cost twice the single rate.
Commonwealth Postal Reforms
In June 1657 Oliver Cromwell passed a Bill “for settling the postage of
England, Scotland and Ireland.” It established “one General Post Office” for
the three countries and fixed “reasonable postal rates” based on the number of
pages used, the weight involved and distance traveled. Cromwell’s Bill made
postage rates cheaper and more uniform while Vaughan’s post roads made the
system more efficient. Consequently usage by merchants increased, leading to
increased revenues. By this time the postal system in Ireland was well
established. Cromwell’s Act of 1657 made all private posts illegal and laid
down strict rules of compliance, thus giving the Government a postal
monopoly. The Act also justified the opening of private letters “to discover and
prevent many dangerous and wicked Designs which have been, and are daily
contrived against the Peace and Welfare of the Commonwealth”. With the
restoration of the Monarchy (Charles II, 1660) Cromwell’s Bill on Post Office
Structures was re-enacted.
It must be remembered that the positions of Postmaster in London and
Dublin were farmed or rented by the Crown to the highest bidder or the person
most favored. The applicant would generally be a rich and loyal subject who
would pay handsomely for the privilege and who would act as a reliable and
well placed intelligence agent of the Crown. The competition for office may be
seen as an indication of the substantial profits possible to the incumbent. The
Postmaster in turn ‘farmed’ the various sub-offices or stage offices to the
highest bidder. The keenest applicants were the owners of alehouses or inns
along the post roads. When the post boy stopped at their establishments people
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would gather to collect letters or simply to watch. This meant good business for
the inn. At this time postboys were badly paid and the practice of carrying
undeclared letters, which were not recorded, was common practice. The postboy would often keep the postage monies, so defrauding the system.
Further reforming acts were introduced aimed at expanding and improving
the services. In 1711 a Bill passed by Queen Anne (1702-1714) established a
single General Postmasters Office in London with control over the chief letter
offices of London, Dublin, Edinburgh, New York and the West Indies. The Bill
also reset postal charges and established a system of surveyors or inspectors to
make spot checks on the system. Similar systems operate even today whereby
inspectors still carry out spot checks on operating and accounting systems
throughout the country. Postal frequency from Dublin to rural parts increased
from two to three days per week. By 1760 there were 45 letter offices in Ireland
in addition to Dublin at which there were 18 people employed. The 1711 Act
also saw the appointment of managers or postmasters to local offices.
Irish Post Roads
Thomas Witherings, who had established the English Post Road system,
was asked to establish a similar system in Ireland. In 1638 he appointed Evan
Vaughan, a soldier and royalist, as Deputy Postmaster. Vaughan started to
organize post stages along the main roads out of Dublin. By 1653 (Oliver
Cromwell) post stages were established on roads to Belfast, Coleraine / Derry,
Galway and Cork. Letter offices were also established at post stages. This
development gave a service to ‘the remotest parts of Ireland’ twice weekly. The
road west via Maynooth, Mullingar, Athlone, Loughrea, to Galway with a
branch route from Athlone, through Roscommon and Boyle to Sligo was
known as the “Connaught Road”. Other routes were known as the “Ulster
Road” and the “Cork Road”. Those main roads were of military importance to
the government and of commercial value to merchants. Letters were carried by
postboys who walked a distance of 18 to 20 miles per day, or went on
horseback. Each postboy was equipped with a leather bag lined with cotton.
Those on horseback carried a horn. Some monies were provided to improve
and extend main post roads.
By 1700 increasing trade and commerce saw the need to develop a crossroads system.
Cross road posts were so called because they carried the post between
stages or posts on the main post roads. A letter posted in Galway for say
Limerick went directly and did not have to be conveyed to Dublin first. By the
mid 18th century such a system was in operation in most of the country. The
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major criteria for establishing a cross post is that it had to be self-financing, It
also focused the need to improve cross post roads in Ireland.
The use of Stagecoaches
While stagecoaches had been in use on Irish and English roads for decades
the Post Office continued to use the underpaid and slow post-boy system.
William Pitt as Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer in a bid to
increase exchequer revenues appointed John Palmer of Bath (1784) to ‘review
mail carrying services throughout the Kingdom’. Palmer suggested the use of
stagecoaches to convey mails as they traveled more quickly and could carry
more mails so increasing revenue. The new system was first introduced in
Britain on 2nd August 1784. In October 1788 the first new mail coach, modelled on the existing English design, was exhibited in Dublin. “It went through
the city drawn by four elegant grey horses, the driver and guard in royal livery”.
The coach conveyance system was introduced in Ireland in June 1789 on
the Belfast and Cork routes. The main advantage of the system was more mail
could be carried. Generally the stagecoaches left post/stages on time and mail
transport could be supplemented by the carriage of passengers. The road
network in Ireland at this time was very poor. One contractor petitioned the
House of Commons to aid road improvement. “Part of the road between
Kilkenny and Colgheen is so extremely narrow as to render it impossible for
two carriages to pass, even by daylight, without the utmost danger of one or
both being overset into deep trenches on either side”.
An Act of George III in 1806 was entitled “An Act to amend the laws
improving and keeping in repair the Post Roads in Ireland and for rendering the
conveyance of letters by His Majesty’s Post Office more secure and
expeditious”.
It recommended the employment of surveyors to supervise the
improvements of the six most important Irish mail roads. A Major Taylor of the
Royal Engineers and Ordinance Survey Department was employed as chief
surveyor. Solid improvements to roads followed. By 1809 eight coaches left
Dublin each evening including Sunday. Records also indicate that they were
used on some of the busier crossroad routes. Mail coaches were drawn by two
or four horses. Because of the poor road conditions in the early nineteenth
century average speed was just four miles per hour. By the 1830s due to road
improvements average coach speed had increased to seven miles per hour with
a passenger capacity of six. A driver and an armed guard where required. Mail
robberies were common in Ireland. At times two armed guards were employed
on mail coaches when one would have been the norm in Britain.
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In Ireland mail coach contractors were employed at an agreed rate per mile.
The Post Offices helped defray costs by improving mail roads and paying
turnpike tolls. At this time (1830s) there were just three major coach
contractors employed to carry post office mails. A Mr. Bourne who owned over
700 horses. A Mr. Purcell owned a major coach building and servicing yard in
Dublin and a Mr. Galway held the contract for the Waterford to Bantry mails.
Charles Bianconi
Charles Bianconi was twice mayor of Clonmel. From 1815
onward he developed his popular horse drawn passenger
carriage services expanding it over various routes throughout
the country.
The year 1850 saw Charles Bianconi win the ‘conveyance
Charles
of mails by coach contract’ for the entire country, (with some
Bianconi
minor exceptions). The Bianconi contract was short. From
1851 the new railway system started to replace the coach
system and won contracts for delivery to towns along its lines. Galway night
rail conveyance of mails started Aug 14th 1851. By January 1852 the receipt
and dispatch of day mails by rail commenced at Galway for a payment of £500
pounds to the Railway Co.
Just as the coach had replaced the walking and horse post, so the railways
replaced the coach system.
Irish Post Office Autonomy
In 1784 King George III (1760-1820) passed and Act giving the Irish Post
Office some autonomy.
“For the better support of your Majesty’s government and the convenience
of trade etc . . . be it enacted . . . that as soon as conveniently may be, there shall
be one general letter-office and post-office established in some convenient
place within the city of Dublin with sub-offices throughout this kingdom from
whence all letters and packets whatsoever, to or from places within this
kingdom, or beyond the seas, may be with speed and expedition sent, received
and dispatched and that the person or persons from time to time to be appointed
by the King’s Majesty, his heirs and successors to be made and constituted by
letters patent under the great seal of Ireland and that there shall be a secretary,
a treasurer or receiver general, an accountant general and a resident surveyor of
the said general post office and also comptroller of the sorting office thereof, to
be appointed, made and constituted in like manner by letters patent under the
great seal of Ireland”. Ireland now had its own Postmaster General.
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This independence granted by George III lasted almost fifty years. During
this time postal services in Dublin were dominated by the Lees family. It
confirmed a monopoly system for letter conveyance and the right to have an
official penny post system in Dublin. Fraud and nepotism was rife throughout
the system.
By then there were 325 post towns in the country with daily posts to 223
of them.
Many reforms were introduced. Irish roads were measured in English miles
bringing Irish postal charges in line with those in Britain. Surveyors were
appointed to eliminate fraud and sharp practice. Greater controls over local
postmasters were introduced. The award of postal contracts was now the
responsibility of surveyors. They acted as inspectors and overseers of postal
services. They enforced discipline.
The Act of Union 1801 favored direct rule from London. Also, concerns of
financial mismanagement and operative inefficiencies arose. On April 6th 1831
the Irish postal system was brought back under direct control of the Postmaster
General London. Central control from London remained until after the Anglo
Irish Treaty signed April 1st 1922 when the Department of Posts and
Telegraphs was established.
On transfer of control from Dublin to London much interesting information
on Irish Postal affairs was probably lost.
Private Penny Post London
Up to 1680 the Post Office had not devised a uniform method of delivering
letters locally when they reached their post or stage destination. Users often had
to travel long distances or send their servants to collect mail at the general letter
or stage offices. This could cause much inconvenience as carriages, horses and
drivers had to be organized or servants instructed to perform ‘letter collection
duties’. Also it was not always possible to predict when mail would be
available for collection resulting in unnecessary journeys.
In 1680 the first Penny Post delivery system was introduced at London by
businessman William Dockwra. For 1d prepaid, a letter was delivered to any
part of the inner city of London and to the city outskirts for an extra penny. This
innovation was so successful and profitable that it was arbitrarily taken over by
King James II (1685) with profits retained by the Crown.
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Private Penny Post Dublin
In Dublin, given the success of London Penny Post, attempts were made in
1692 and again in 1704 to introduce a penny post system to the city. Both
attempts failed due to the absence of royal approval. Queen Anne’s Act of 1711
protected the Post Office from private innovation. With the growth of Dublin
City and the increase in the merchant and business classes a Bill was brought
in 1765 (George III) to legalize penny post and allow the Postmaster General
to set up an official Penny Post Office in the city of Dublin.
The opportunity was seized by the Postmaster General who introduced
“deliveries twice a day within four miles of the city centre”. It cost 1d for
delivery of a single letter on its arrival at his office. However the new service
was not readily taken up by the business classes and disappointment was
expressed at official level. In 1809 the Post Master General of Dublin admitted
that Penny Post was not a success. At this time Penny Post delivery services
was only available in the inner city. Other Irish cities, towns and stage offices
organized local deliveries with varying success. In Belfast, for example, the
postmaster John Baird hired two letter carriers. He allowed the addressee the
option of collecting letters at the letter office or paying an extra penny for
delivery within a certain area. There was widespread expansion of the postal
system during the period 1784-1832. Population at this time was approx. 9
million, However records indicate that there was no post or stage office in
County Leitrim and only one in Kerry, possibly reflecting the lack of social or
economic development in some rural parts of the country.
An Act introduced by William IV in 1832 “legalized the establishment of
Penny Post Offices in any city, town or suburb in Ireland which could support
it”. The usual conditions applied, cost 1d for weights less than 4 ounces and
only official Post office letter carriers were allowed to carry mail. Between
1832 and 1837 Penny Post Offices had been established throughout the
country. This service was generally successful and self-financing although it
could only be afforded by the privileged and well to do. One must remember
that postage charges were levied on the receiver as well as the sender. The poor
could not afford to pay high delivery charges. Also there was much abuse
within the system. Royal mail was allowed into the system free as were letters
posted by members of parliament and their families. Operating costs were high.
By 1830 the Postal Services was facing much pressure for reform.
Uniform Penny Post Service In United Kingdom
Rowland Hill, the Post Office Secretary, published a Post Office Reform
Document in 1837.
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In August 1839 a Bill of Reforms was passed. This bill was stoutly
supported by Daniel O’Connell as cheaper postage could be useful to the
Repeal Movement. It allowed for a prepaid penny letter rate for letters under a
half ounce in the inner London Districts, with a minimum prepaid charge of
four pence for the rest of the United Kingdom. Public reaction to the four penny
rate was so unfavourable that from January 10th 1840 the Government and
Treasury were forced to introduce a uniform Penny Post service for the whole
of the United Kingdom. The new uniform Penny Post service now assessed the
cost of posting and delivery on the weight involved whereas the old system was
based on the number of pages contained and the distance involved.
From 1840 postage was paid by the sender who affixed an adhesive
postage stamp as proof that the required postage was paid.
The first adhesive postage stamps went on sale on 1/5/1840. They were
called the 1d (Penny) Black and the 2d Blue and became valid for postage on
May 6th 1840. On the suggestion of Rowland Hill, they depicted a head profile
of the young Queen Victoria (1837-1901) who was just 19 years of age. They
were printed in sheets which were not perforated. Each individual stamp had to
be cut out of the sheet with a scissors.
The original Penny Black was used for weights up to half an ounce. The
paper used carried a watermark of a small crown to prevent forgery. Printers
were Perkins, Bacon and Petch London. Red cancellation ink was used on a
“Maltese Cross” hand held brass or steel obliterator to cancel the stamp. The
item posted also had to be stamped with the dated town stamp number. It was
soon discovered that the red ink could be easily washed off the ‘penny black’
and the stamp then reused. To prevent this abuse and revenue loss on February
10th 1841 the authorities issued a Penny Red stamp and used black indelible
ink for cancellation. The original unperforat-ed penny black is now a rare and
valuable collector’s item. It had been on sale just 9 months when it was
replaced by the penny red.
The 2d blue stamp of similar design was used for
weights up to one ounce.
The introduction of the first adhesive postage
stamps in 1840 was the birth of the present Post
Office letter revenue collection service. By 1842
letter posting in Ireland had increased from 9 million
to 24 million a year.
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In 1845 a Dubliner called Henry Archer invented a ‘label perforating
machine’ which proved a great success. Its use could perforate 3000 sheets per
hour.
From the early 1830s free deliveries had commenced in some of the larger
cities and towns of Ireland. Galway city for instance already had two Royal
Letter Carriers. One carrier received an allowance of £20 per annum, the other
received £18.5.0d per annum. Revenue amounted to £2611 per annum.
Anthony Trollope (novelist) in his capacity as a Post Office Surveyor
extended many rural post deliveries between 1841 and 1859 provided they
were financially viable. Prior to this the addressee had to collect letters at their
nearest Post Office. In some rural areas guarantors were sought if the financial
viability of new deliveries were in doubt.
In 1897 as part of the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee celebrations free
delivery was granted to every house in the Kingdom, no matter how remote, at
least three days per week. It ensured that henceforth a postal delivery was
guaranteed to everybody regardless of religion, status or income. Over the
years many other services were introduced. A Money Order service first
introduced in 1792 was revised in 1838, Registered Post in 1841, Book Post in
1840, Savings Bank in 1861, Life Insurance in 1864, Dog Licenses in 1867,
Postal Order service in 1881 and Parcel Post in 1883. The payment of Old Age
Pensions commenced in 1909, Widows and Orphans pensions in 1935,
Children’s Allowances in 1944, Old Age Contributory Pensions in 1961,
Retirement and Invalidity Pensions in 1970 and a variety of other pensions and
allowance since then.
Book Post
A Book Post service was first introduced in 1840. One must remember it
was the early Victorian era. “The Grand Tour” was a must for the well to do.
Catalogues started to be printed and distributed. Having a private library in
ones home was a display of wealth and success. The complete works of
Shakespeare, Dickens, the Brontes etc. were collected by many. Books on
Travel, History and Exploration were other areas of interest. Publishers seized
the opportunity. A book a month could be purchased until ones collection was
complete. Special postage rates were offered for book post services. Several
conditions applied.
While the book could be enclosed in a ‘wrapper’, ends had to be left open
for inspection.
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Parcel Post Service first introduced in 1883
Following the success of the book post service the sending of parcels
through the post developed. One could purchase items from a catalogue and
have it delivered by post. Parcel post was also extensively used by emigrants
during the early part of 20th Century. The parcel from America was a looked
forward to event in Ireland. The upheaval of the First World War saw a great
increase in parcel post to young men at the ‘Front Lines’. Unemployment and
poverty in Ireland saw many emigrate to Britain and America.
Up to the mid 1980s the Christmas turkey and Biscuit trade by parcel post
to cities in England and Scotland was extensive. Special extra parcel post
services had to the put in place at all Irish Post Offices each year. As postage
rates increased this parcel trade to Britain rapidly declined.
Front Door Letterboxes
Prior to 1840 and the introduction of the uniform prepaid penny postage
stamp a letter carrier had to knock on the door, wait for it to be opened and then
wait further until money was found to pay the postage. With the introduction of
the prepaid postage stamp in the 1840s it was suggested that householders
should cut a slit in their doors so that the letter carrier could drop in letters, give
a friendly knock and move on. By the early 1850s most people had conformed.
Letterbox doorplates were originally of cast iron (as were the ornate and
sometimes very elaborate door knocker). Birmingham and Yorkshire foundries
benefited from demand. Gradually cast iron door fittings gave way to brass
.
Pillar, Wall and Lamppost Boxes
Iron pillar boxes were already in use in Berlin, Paris, Vienna and other
European cities.
They were generally sited some distance from the central “Receiving
Houses”. Their use proved quite successful and convenient for customers
posting letters. Mails were collected from them at regular intervals by letter
carriers and brought to the Receiving Houses. Anthony Trollope, postal
surveyor, was by now working in the Channel Islands and was a frequent
visitor to Paris. In 1852 he suggested using a similar pillar box system in St.
Hellier, Jersey, where four boxes were erected. Rowland Hill introduced a
similar system in London where six boxes were erected in 1855. They proved
a popular success.
The first boxes were introduced in Dublin in 1857. Later smaller boxes
were built into walls or clamped onto lamp posts. Some were sited at railway
stations.
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The oldest pillar box known to exist in Ireland is of four sided design, made
in 1855 by Ashworth of Burnley, England, and is now on display at the
National Museum.
In 1857 a box designed by Cochrane and Company of Dudley known as the
‘Ornate Box’ came into use. Just three of these ‘Ornate Boxes’ are known to
still exist in England.
A pillar box can be seen at Kent Railway Station, Cork, which is the sole
survivor, not just in Ireland, but in the world of the 1857 design known as the
“Economy version of the Ornate Box’. It is now Ireland’s oldest pillar letter
box in public use.
In 1865 the Post Office accepted another ornate design of pillar box known
as the Penfold model, called after its designer J. W. Penfold. It is hexagonal (six
sides) in design. It was manufactured by Cochrane and Co. of Dudley. Just five
of those boxes are still in use – at New Ross, Bray, Galway, Skibbereen, and
Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow.
A pillar box sited at Patrick Street, Portarlington, is known as a ‘First
National Standard’ box. Just the one exists in Ireland. The date of manufacture
1866 can be seen on the base.
In England just four of those early boxes still remain of this size and five
others of a larger size.
Complaints of letters getting stuck, and so delayed, in those hexagonal
boxes led, in 1879, to the introduction of the now familiar cylindrical pillar
box. Boxes introduced before 1874 were painted a dark green. From 1874
onward the standard colour became ‘royal red’. This colour was sometimes
referred to as ‘signal red’. With Independence in 1922 the Irish Post Offices
changed the colour back to green.
Several modifications were made to the cylindrical boxes. Some boxes
made between 1879 and 1883 had apertures very close to the top resulting in
letters and newspapers getting stuck. Boxes made between 1884 and 1887 had
the apertures lowered a few inches. Most of those boxes were made by
Handyside of Derby. In 1887 a new design was introduced with Crown and
Royal Cypher V R (Victoria Regina) on the door and the words ‘Post Office’
on the collar. The Edwardian pillar box of 1904 also displayed Crown and
Royal Cypher E VII on the door but had the words Post Office on the bottom
of the door. After Independence in 1922 replacement wall-box doors (through
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damage) were replaced with doors bearing a round (S.É.) Saorstát Éireann
logo. New boxes erected after 1922 bear the P&T cypher. Modern wall and
lamp-post boxes now bear the An Post logo.
Pillar Boxes
Telegraph System
The sending and receipt of messages along a wire was the major
communications development of the 1850s. The year 1837 saw William Cooke
and Charles Wheatstone patent their electric telegraph system. This became
known as the Wheatstone ABC5 needle electric telegraph. It was a method
where an electric impulse along a wire propelled a needle along the letters of
the alphabet at the end of the wire. At the same time in America Samuel Morse
had patented another system. In 1844 on a line erected between Washington
and Baltimore the words “what hath God wrought” flashed over the wire in
codes of dots and dashes. This became known as the ‘Morse Code System’. It
was first commercially used in 1846 and eventually used by all inland telegraph
systems. In 1866 the Great Eastern steamship, after a number of attempts, laid
an underwater cable between Valentia Island off the Kerry coast and
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Newfoundland. At first it was operated by rival companies for private and
commercial customers.
In 1869 an Act was passed under which the Postmaster General acquired
the inland telegraph system. The Electric Telegraph Co who operated it was
transferred to state ownership. The Post Office had now entered the
telecommunications business. The service of sending messages over a wire
quickly expanded and developed. New lines were laid. It was estimated that in
1885 in excess of over 50 million telegrams were dealt with in the British Isles.
The Morse code system was in use at all main Post Offices up until 1958 when
it was replaced by the teleprinter and telephone system. Post Office clerks
(telegraphist) had to acquire special telegraphic skills in Morse Code
transmission and receipt. Training took up to 11/2 years to reach required
standards. The Morse Code telegram transmission service was an enormous
success. It was fast and reliable. It was the conveyer of both good and sad news.
Thousands of messages went daily through the Irish system, messages of
congratulation on happy occasions such as births and marriages as well as sad
messages of losses at the front line during the ‘Great War’. Reports of local
sports events as well as other important local news were handed in to Post
Offices by reporters for transmission by telegraph to National Daily Papers.
Each telegraph centre had its own call signal.
The year 1896 saw Marconi demonstrate his new “telegraphy without
wire” system.
The first such message of this new system was transmitted across the
Atlantic in 1902.
A Wireless Telegraphy Act passed in 1904 conferred licensing powers on
the Postmaster General. In October 1907 Marconi established a wireless station
at Clifden. It operated until 1922 when it was destroyed by irregular soldiers
during the Irish Civil War. The Clifden station was mainly used for
transmissions internationally. In 1911 a receiving station was erected at
Letterfrack.
Telegraph Money Orders
The transmission of telegraph money orders was another important feature
of the system. Immigrant workers in Britain used this service extensively to
send money home weekly to their families in Ireland. Telegrams were delivered
free within urban areas while a portage charge was applicable to rural areas. A
new staff grade was introduced for delivery of telegrams. Originally a telegram
deliverer was known as a ‘Wire Boy’. This later became Telegraph Messenger.
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In January 1908 the grade title became known as Boy Messenger and in the
1950s it was changed to Junior Postman.
The Teleprinter system for the sending and receipt of telegrams was first
introduced in the 1940s. By 1958 it was in widespread use. Specific offices
were known as teleprinter offices. Facilities were developed to allow for what
was called Automatic Switching. This allowed offices in Ireland to dial offices
in Britain direct. Operators just had to type the telegram or message on a
Qwerty keyboard machine and the message arrived seconds later at its
destination in sticker tape form for pasting to a telegram pad sheet.
Consequently the use of the Morse Code system declined rapidly. After 1953
the training of post office staff in the difficult Morse Code ceased. Staff
recruited after 1958 had to undergo just a six month training period. The
gradual development of the telephone system heralded a rapid decline in
telegram business. The congratulatory telegram for weddings was replaced by
the stationery card.
Telephone Service
The first telephone, invented in America by Alexander Graham Bell, was
introduced to Britain by Sir William Thompson in 1876. Another patent for the
telephone was secured by Thomas Edison in 1877. An amalgamation of the
two systems saw the foundation of The United Telephone Co. of Britain. In
1889 The National Telephone Co. was formed. Eventually the Postmaster
General secured licensing rights over private telephone companies.
The first telephone exchange was opened in Dublin in 1880. The telephone
network was slow to grow. The securing of way-leaves in cities, towns and
rural areas proved difficult.
A telephone was expensive to install with advance payments required in
most cases. It was most difficult to obtain service in many parts of rural Ireland.
Extra charges were levied for the number of telegraph poles required to provide
service. Equipment was cumbersome and in many cases unreliable. This
unsatisfactory situation persisted until the introduction of the mobile telephone
network. The staff grade responsible for installing and maintaining the old
system were known as Telegraph Line Men.
Dedicated Staff Grades
From 1800, as mail volumes and other services increased official dedicated
staff grades were introduced.
The Window Man (modern day counter clerk) was responsible for
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receiving letters and revenue for items posted. He transferred monies collected
to Treasury fortnightly.
The Alphabet Man (modern postal sorter) sorted letters arriving into
“pigeon holes” for personal collection. (“Pigeon holes” later became known as
sorting boxes or sorting frames.) The term ‘pigeon hole’ relates to homing
pigeons capable of carrying small messages taped to its leg for delivery to their
home base often over considerable distances. Postal terms such as “inward,
outward, home, foreign, other parts” came into common use in letter
processing.
The Alphabet Man was also responsible for sorting the letters according to
each stop or stage on the mail coach route. The bundle for each stop was
accompanied by a list of the number of paid and unpaid letters enclosed and the
amount of money to be collected and returned. He was obliged to settle his
accounts monthly to Treasury. All (or most) monies collected by the Alphabet
Man were paid over to the Treasury weekly.
The Dead Letter Man was responsible for returning letters to the sender if
they were undelivered or not collected by the addressee. Nondelivery could
result from inadequate or insufficient address, addressee unknown, or more
likely the addressee refusing to pay the delivery charge due. In such instances
any unpaid charges were collected where possible from the sender on return of
the undelivered item. Originally such monies were collected in cash resulting
in many cases of fraud and abuse of the system. Later a “postage due” adhesive
stamp was introduced.
The Post Boy
The term “Post Boy” (present day postman) can be traced to London
records of 1680.
Originally postboys were employed by private persons as messengers to
collect letters or to convey letters to post or stage offices. They were also
employed to deliver letters between business premises. Generally they were
poorly paid, not very reliable and noted in many cases for “miss-appropriation
of letter revenue”. With the growth of commerce in the greater London area it
was realized that considerable revenue could be gained by providing an
efficient and reliable service to the general public. The term “post boy”
gradually changed to that of “letter carrier”. The services provided were so
successful financially that it was monopolized by the Crown. (James II 1685)
Letter Carriers then became known as ‘Royal Letter Carriers’. The term
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Royal Mail Carrier was also used for mail conveyance between post or stage
offices on main post roads. Post or stage offices became known at Royal Letter
or Royal Mail Offices.
The royal letter carrier was given a monetary allowance subject to gaining
one, two or three “good conduct service stripes”. The length of service for each
stripe was four, eight and twelve years. Each service stripe attracted an
allowance of 1 shilling. Some recorded misdemeanors (and there were many)
that would prevent the award of a good conduct stripe included; “found under
the influence of drink”, “continued late attendance”, “miss-delivery of mails”,
“using course language”, “insubordination.”, “loitering”, “breach of official
secrets” “delay on the road”, etc. An errant letter carrier could also be subject
to “a caution or warned by survey report” with a fine or loss of pay penalty.
Fraud or misappropriation was a dismissal offence. Service stripe allowances
were abolished in 1914.
The pay scale of a royal letter carrier in 1905 was 15/- to 18/- per week.
As post deliveries expanded to rural parts various grades of “carrier” were
introduced.
An Allowance carrier was employed for up to 12 hours per week mostly on
a three day per week bases. This was common for Islands and remote areas.
An Auxiliary R.L.C. was employed for letter deliveries up to 34 hours per
week. Those grades were paid an hourly rate. A full time established R.L.C.
received a regular weekly wage based on the pay scales in force. “Established
status” for grades referred to those who had been issued with a ‘Civil Service
Certificate’.
Uniforms were supplied to postmen at the larger provincial centers from
1856 and by 1872 were supplied to all royal letter carriers. Style and colour
varied over the years.
The system of grade appointment, the award of incremental pay scales, the
award of an allowance, dismissals and misconduct were regulated by a
‘surveyor’ grade which reported to the ‘Department’.
During and following the First World War many ex British service veterans
were given preference as Royal Mail Letter Carriers and Office Cleaners.
Following Irish independence in 1922 any person who did not wish to
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serve under the new administration of the Dept. of Posts and Telegraphs was
allowed to transfer to Britain or Northern Ireland under article ten of the
constitution. Just one person in the Westport Postal District availed of this
opportunity.
When the Department of Posts and Telegraphs was established in 1922 the
grades of Royal Letter Carrier became known as Postman grades. In line with
modern equality legislation the grades are now called postpersons.
During the ‘emergency years’ of the second world war, any staff
permanently employed in the Dept. of Posts and Telegraphs who joined up ‘for
the duration’ were re-instated when the emergency was over.
Early Irish Stamps
Delivery/ Transport
Early postboy deliveries were carried out on foot or horseback. In some
cases donkeys were used. An allowance was payable for the use of a horse.
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Post or Stage deliveries on foot usually involved distances of 20 or more
miles per day, six days per week. This was 5 miles more than their English
counterpart. Sunday deliveries were performed to army and police barracks.
Post or Stage deliveries by horse or coach involved a travel rate of some 7
to 10 miles per hour depending on the road conditions.
Walking delivery posts were usually of 15 to 18 miles distance per day with
a walking pace of 4 miles per hour.
With the development of the bicycle and the invention of the pneumatic
tyre in 1889 cycle delivery posts were introduced and replaced foot and horse
posts (Island foot posts were in operation up to 1995.)
Some cycle posts involved the use of a private cycle for which a small
weekly allowance was paid. If an official cycle was used a small cleaning
allowance was payable.
Cycle pace was rated at between 6 and 7 miles per hour depending on the
number of delivery points involved. A cycle post of 35 hours per week or less
was known as an auxiliary cycle post and of post of 371/2 hours per week was
called a full time post. Delivery of mails to sub post offices originally involved
walking, horse or coach contracts. As the motor car became more popular
conveyance of mails by private motor car contractors became common
practice. This practice was in operation in most postal districts up until 1959
when motorization of postal deliveries commenced.
The line deliveries to sub offices in a postal district by official mail car saw
the phasing out of the private mail car contractor. Gradually most delivery posts
were motorized. Generally two full time cycle posts or three auxiliary cycle
posts were absorbed in a motorized post. Delivery staff numbers were
consequently reduced. Presently, due to modern urban housing sprawl, cycle
delivery posts are in use once more.
The delivery of parcel and large packets in most cities and town up to the
mid 1950s was by wicker handcart. There were two sizes. A large one was used
in Westport Town until 1958. A smaller version was used for deliveries in
Ballinrobe.
Travelling Post Offices
Travelling Post Offices known as (T.P.O.s) were first introduced on the
London to Birmingham line in 1838. Train carriages were especially adapted
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and fitted with letter sorting frames into which letters for towns and cities in
route could be sorted.
The first T.P.O. to operate in Ireland was introduced on the Dublin to Cork
railway line on January 1st 1855. The first T.P.O. on the Dublin to Galway line
commenced June 1st 1887.
It was first known as the Midland T.P.O. From 1904 it was called the
Midland and Great Western. From March 2nd 1904 it became known as the
Dublin/Galway T.P.O. This service gave much needed relief to the Dublin
Sorting Office and helped to accelerate mail deliveries. The earlier carriages
had apparatus attached which enabled T.P.O. staff to pick up mails from special
standards at railway stations on route without the train having to stop. T.P.O.
staffing was generally provided from Dublin. It operated on Down Night, Up
Night, Down Day and Up Day railway trains.
The conveyance of mails by rail continued up to 1993 when An Post
decided to introduce a new “Rail to Road” letter and parcel distribution
network. A Parcel Services Division was created known as S.D.S. Due to
competition from private contractors, operational inefficiencies and poor senior
management control the S.D.S was disbanded in 2001. All mails still continue
to be conveyed by road under the Letter Services Division of An Post.
Postal Districts
For operational and control purposes Postal Districts started to emerge
from about the mid 1700s. This involved one large office usually situated in the
largest town or city of the district having control of all postal matter in the
surrounding area including postal affairs of smaller towns, villages and rural
areas. The controlling office became known as a Head Office while smaller
offices became known as Sub Offices. Some Head Offices later became District
Offices (smaller control area) while others became Sub Offices.
Westport Head Office had a Postal District stretching East to Killavally,
West to Killadoon, to Dooagh on Achill Island and as far as Ballycroy to the
North. It also had responsibility for the islands of Achill Beg, Clare Island and
Innishbiggle. At one point in time Westport had 42 sub post offices under its
control.
A sub office also existed at Aasleagh/Leenane under Galway H.O. control,
opened in 1856 and closed in 1894 to which Westport H.O. had a daily delivery
of letters by R.L.C. John Joseph Malone (1877) and Thomas Penner (1883).
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On the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 a separate and
independent Irish Post Office emerged under Central Government control. It
was called the Department of Posts and Telegraphs with a government minister
and departmental secretary (Rúnaí) in control. In 1978 the then government set
up a Department of Posts and Telegraphs Review Group chaired by Michael
Dargan. They met twenty times. The group’s report was presented to the
minister in May 1979. Most of its recommendations on modern business
requirements, new technology and industrial relations were accepted and
implemented. A major industrial strike closed all Head Post Offices for 16
weeks in 1979. In 1981 the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs issued a green
paper on the reorganization of post office services. A White Paper on
reorganisation was laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas for consideration
in 1981. As a result two commercial semi-state companies were formed under
the control of Chief Executives. An Bord Poist and An Bord Telecom were
born.
Vesting day for An Post as a semi-state commercial company occurred on
1/1/1984.
Corporate objectives of the new company included the introduction of;
more productive work practices, cost control, preparing the company for
survival in more competitive open markets, introduction of employment
legislation, gender equality, equal opportunity, health and safety, European
Union directives, new technology and many other areas of concern in regard to
modern business practice.
1991 saw the introduction of the “Viability” plan which proposed the
reduction in the number of Sub Post Offices and Head Post Offices throughout
the country. It also recommended the introduction of roadside letter boxes in
rural areas.
In 1994 the Price Waterhouse report was commissioned by the government
to review An Post future operating requirements. It recommended the
separation of the three main business functions in An Post and the creation of
three new business units.
Separate Letters Division, Counters Division and Parcels Division within
An Post. – END PART ONE
Richard Joyce, a native of Westport, has a B.A. in History from N.U.I.G. He was Head
Postmaster in Westport, Donegal and Claremorris Postal Districts. This article is
dedicated to the late Jarlath Duffy, friend and classmate.
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Eric Cross
Sonia Kelly
Eric Cross is one of
those
Englishmen, like St. Patrick and Jack
Charlton, who have become iconic
Irishmen. His mother was a nurse named
Mulloy from Northern Ireland and Cross
was a merchant tailor from the North of
England. He subsequently obtained a
degree in chemistry from Manchester
University and worked with ICI, during
which time he was closely involved in the
development of the Oxo cube, among
other things.
In 1939, before the outbreak of war,
he came to Cork where he became part of
a group which included Seamus Murphy,
the stone mason, Nancy McCarthy, a
pharmacist from Douglas, Captain Sean
Eric Cross. Photo: Liam Lyons.
Feehan, the founder of the Mercier Press
and Father Traynor, a priest of some notoriety. Later he purchased a horsedrawn caravan and moved in it to Gougane Barra,
a place frequented by the group. They were drawn
there by Tim Buckley, the tailor, and his wife
Ansty, who were subsequently to figure in Eric’s
book The Tailor and Ansty.
This tailor had been affected by polio in his
youth and consequently had a withered leg. While
at work with his needle he entertained his many
visitors with folktales, philosophy and generally
racy conversation in the manner of a rural Dr.
Johnson. Ansty acted as his foil and between them
there were no subjects proof against their analysis
and wit.
Cover image reproduced by
kind permission of Mercier
Press Ltd., Cork.
Eric’s book, recording their doings and
sayings, was eventually published. It was
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immediately banned, but in time became a bestseller and is now regarded as a
classic. It has also been dramatised and performed throughout the country and
in the Abbey Theatre.
The banning of the book gave rise to a lot of publicity, causing the tailor
himself to be demonised and disgraced. The book was burned publicly and
things did not go well for Eric either. This setback was compounded by an
altercation involving Captain Feehan and a company that had been formed to
produce a type of turf briquette invented by Eric, as he had continued to utilise
his scientific background during these wartime years of shortages. (Another
invention of his was the transforming of bicycle spokes into knitting needles).
With one thing and another his love affair with Cork ended, and when he
saw an advertisement in the New Statesman for someone to teach a family of
children near Westport in Co. Mayo he applied. There were in fact several
applications, but I chose Eric as he seemed to offer the best long-term prospect.
The actual term turned out to be thirty years, for he remained with us and
became part of our family until his death.
He liked to retain an air of mystery however, letting it be known, for
instance, that he had been born in Norway and christened Eric after that
Cloona Health Centre
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country’s national saint. It was only after his death that we discovered he had
been born in Cheshire and actually christened James. Neither did we have any
indication as to what religion he professed, if any, and this caused a lot of
confusion when wondering where to bury him, his sister determining the site of
his grave. This sister, Sheila, lived in London with her fireman husband Wal
and periodically visited us, although Eric never exhibited much enthusiasm for
those occasions.
He educated our two eldest girls completely; after his arrival they never
went to school. The three boys did subsequently move on after being
thoroughly grounded by him. Afterwards they always excelled in mathematics,
that being his speciality.
His activities were by no means confined to teaching. He regularly
broadcast on Sunday Miscellany, contributed to various literary publications
and wrote a book of short stories called Silence is Golden. He also produced
The Map of Time, an extremely complicated undertaking, consisting of several
large sheets covering sequential periods of history on which one could see at a
glance how each historical event related to others of the same date.
Many surprising and diverse talents could be ascribed to him: he could
carve in wood, the beautiful lines of his creations being based on the Greek
concept of the Golden Mean; he could
model in plaster and make the requisite
molds for reproduction, and he invented all
sorts of ingenious puzzles.
These multifarious activities were
brought to bear in the various enterprises
undertaken by our family. At one period
we were weavers and Eric was constantly
dreaming up new and more efficient
methods of manufacturing the “crios”
material which was the end product: he
modelled and mass-produced leprechauns’
heads for a hand-craft project and was
extremely useful during a period of
wheeling and dealing in antiques. On one
occasion a “Murillo” was found
abandoned under a bed with a spike up
through it. Eric repaired it faultlessly and it
was sold as the work of one of the Master’s
82
Wood carving by Eric Cross
(presented to Clew Bay Heritage
Centre by the late Michael Reilly,
Newforest Lodge).
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pupils. He could patch up all kinds of china and pottery items to look like new
and metal repairs were not beyond him either.
Gardening was another of his interests. He took over a portion of the
grounds at Cloona Lodge and attended to it himself, mowing the grass and
meticulously building walls. As he had never learned to drive he walked
everywhere and he adopted the family Labrador, Missy, as his own, walking
her for long distances. In fact he more or less regarded the whole of Cloona as
his own and in the end people thought that we were only living there by his
invitation. He also claimed responsibility for anything I wrote during that time,
so perhaps he had become somewhat like a cuckoo in the nest.
But talking was his main entertainment and he could spend hours at it. This
proclivity fitted in very well with another of our undertakings – that of
establishing a health farm. It was not that he had the slightest interest or belief
in any of the relevant disciplines, but an ever-changing audience fell into his
lap like manna from Heaven.
The enjoyment was mutual, until one day he failed to emerge from his
Maura and Lisa Vaughan from Liscannor, Co.Clare, at the grave of Eric Cross.
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room by four in the afternoon. That was not at all unusual, but for some reason
the man of the house investigated.
Eric had died in his sleep. The year was 1980 and he was seventy-two years
old.
His remains lie in Knappagh Churchyard in the erstwhile domain of his
great friend Canon Percy Lewis.
Sonia Kelly is an author and journalist. She established the Cloona Health Centre thirty
years ago. She and her husband Joseph Kelly, from Islandmore in Clew Bay, had five
children. The youngest, Dhara, now runs the Health Centre. Sonia still lives in Cloona
and is currently a columnist with the Mayo News.
The Seanad Éireann debate concerning The Tailor and Ansty – Volume 27 – 09
December 1942, can be found online:
http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0027/S.0027.194212090003.html
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Seamus Murphy
Eric Cross
I met Seamus Murphy for the first time soon after he had returned from
Paris and established his workshop-studio in the yard of Sonny Murphy’s pub,
the Northern Star, in Blackpool. I saw him for the last time, after a lapse of
many years, for two nights a fortnight before he died. More than anyone I have
known, more than my own relations, Seamus entered into my life. He became
a part of it despite long periods when I did not see him. Physical presence was
not necessary for my constant awareness of him.
Before the war, when I was romantically traipsing round Ireland with a
horse-drawn caravan, Seamus would join me for the odd weekends, or weeks,
and enliven the day’s journey, the night’s drinking, with his intimate knowledge
of places and people. When I lived in Gougane he would come frequently and
stay for weeks – as long as the money lasted.
When I was living in Cork it was seldom a day passed that I did not push
open the wicket gate into the yard behind the pub and, as likely as not, spend
the better part of the day there. His studio in Blackpool was the salon of Cork,
but a strictly masculine salon. It was a gathering place for all sorts and
conditions of men. It was a focus point for a score of aspects of the vivid,
zestful life of Cork in those days. The news, more particularly the unwritten
news, the news between the print, was discussed, enlarged upon, disputed.
Personalities and motives were ruthlessly examined. Old history was retailed.
Old and new scandals were given an airing.
You never knew who would turn up or who you would find there. Billy
Dwyer, the then Maecenas of Cork and a staunch supporter of Seamus, spent a
lot of his time there. Almost everyone visiting Cork – actors, artists, writers,
politicians, hurling heroes, greyhound breeders, old stonies, Munster Fusilier
pensioners – focused on the studio. Seamus was very seldom alone. In the
midst of whatever was going on, Seamus was the centre of the group of idlers,
whistling and riding, tapping and hammering. Nothing passed him by. Often,
with a twinkle in his eye, he would pause for a moment to drop in a wry
comment, to a provocative question, to keep the pot boiling. Someone would
brew tea or someone was in funds and we might repair to the conveniently
adjacent pub – surely the most stark, comfortless establishment in the whole of
Ireland, but where, nevertheless, there was so often the sport of Cork.
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Seamus and I were, by background, training, temperament and interest,
poles apart. But it was Seamus who unconsciously – yet sometime with a direct
challenge or an example – taught me, influenced me. He taught me how little I
knew about human beings and how intolerant I was towards them. To Seamus
all human beings were, one way or another, of interest to him. All, no matter
who they were, in that yard in Blackpool were on level terms and all were under
the influence, themselves and real. For Seamus, working away, was always
himself, so completely real – warm, tender, open, compassionate,
understanding and zestful. He was also wilful and stubborn at time too, for he
was human.
Of course I was interested in his craft and in this direction he taught me
much. He conveyed, communicated, initiated me into the craftsman’s attitude
towards his way of living. I still see raw stone, worked stone or a finished
building with the added vision with Seamus gave me. Others have written and
spoken about his work and his achievement. The work remains in the most
durable form of all materials as a memento to the artist and the craftsman. But
is was the man behind the work which always interested me, which still
interests me and which will interest me while I have a memory.
As a result of knowing Seamus I measure a man much more in the terms
of what would be Seamus’s appraisal than those of my original self. I wonder
what Seamus might think of him. Would he pass his shrewd scrutiny or would
he be assessed and dismissed for his pretentiousness and unreality? Seamus
gave me a sure measure. No man is an island. We are all affected and
influenced by those whom we meet. To a lesser or greater extent we weave
others into the fabric of our lives. While I live, some part of Seamus Murphy
continues to live in me – and that is the better part.
This radio script is reprinted from Sunday Miscellany 2, ed. Ronnie Walsh,
Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1976. By kind permission of R.T.É and Gill and
Macmillan Ltd.
Seamus Murphy (1907 – 1975) was Ireland’s foremost stone carver and
sculptor. His works includes church and public statuary, memorials, and busts
of most of the leading figures, in the arts and politics, in Ireland in the
twentieth century.
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An Irish Hero in the
Great American West
Mary Ellen Chambers
In the late 1950s, a television show called Naked City was at the top of the
weekly must see list for the United States. The introduction would state that
there were a million different stories in The Naked City; the city was New
York. The same could be said for the Irish emigrant who came to, not only
New York, but all the cities and towns throughout the United States.
The majority of these tales are of courage, strength and perseverance as
they made their indelible imprint on this young country. Similar dramas played
out in Australia, New Zealand and wherever they put down their carpetbag or
sack. Their descendants know each individual saga, retelling it to each new
generation. It’s embellished or dimished and the true facts become vague.
But the tales are told with inflection and brogue, tears well in eyes at each
retelling. There are the Christmas stories for the Eve, the Easter stories
especially of the Easter Monday Uprising, the July 4th story of the ocean
crossing, the Thanksgiving story of past great feasts, which followed the
traditional thanksgiving prayer. Here is one of my family stories, which was
told to us by Thomas McFadden’s granddaughter Patricia, née McFadden Ori.
Thomas McFadden was five years older than my grandmother Mary Ellen
and was born in 1868 in Streamstown, Westport, County Mayo Ireland. He was
one of eight children born to Thadgh and Mary Ellen McFadden. In the late
1880s/early 1890s all the children emigrated with the exception of Martin and
Anthony (who was slow). (Gran would refer to him as Anthony the Innocent
One when she talked of her home and family in Mayo). Martin stayed with the
parents, tended the farm and horses, and helped look after his brother.
All the siblings settled in Cleveland, Ohio with the exception of Thomas.
He had an adventurous spirit. Eventually he found himself in Lead, South
Dakota, working in the gold mines with many other Irish emigrants. The story
is a little vague about how he became a partner with Martin Carrigan (also
spelled with a “K” on most records).
It is thought that they had emigrated together, with Martin being much
older. Perhaps they met on board ship. In South Dakota, Martin was already
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married to Margaret Gibbons. The couple had
two sons. The fact is that when the story is
told, Martin and Thomas are referred to as
partners.
One day, either working in the mines or
perhaps prospecting, a snake bit Martin.
Thomas, with great courage and strength,
carried him ten miles in an effort to save him.
Alas, Martin died despite Thomas’s valiant
effort.
Margaret Gibbons Carrigan
A few years later, Thomas married the
McFadden.
widow Carrigan and adopted her two sons.
Margaret and Thomas travelled from Lead, South Dakota to Butte, Montana
with their family of now six children in the 1890s.1 Butte was one of the largest
Irish communities in the United States. Thomas bought a home on South
Arizona Ave. The life of a copper miner was quite difficult in Montana. They
went down in the mines before daylight and emerged after dark into the cold
night air. The heat and dampness in the depths of the mines were intense.
Because of this, most miners rarely lived beyond their fortieth birthday. They
died of a lung disease known commonly as “Miner’s Con”. Thomas was no
exception to this, he passed away in 1924.
Their youngest son Ted, named for his grandfather Tadhg in Streamstown,
was able to fulfil the “American” dream. Being a teenager with minimal
education, he worked as a porter in a local Butte Hotel. A wealthy mine owner
was impressed with the industry of young Ted
McFadden. He encouraged him to complete
his secondary education and paid all his
expenses to the University of Virginia, both
undergraduate and graduate Law School. Ted
returned to Montana. He became a well
known civic leader and lawyer. As had been
done for him, he assisted other poor young
Irish boys achieve a university education at
the University of Virginia.
Ted McFadden.
Many years later Ted returned to Lead,
South Dakota where he was born. He placed
a stone on the grave of Martin Carrigan and a
little sister who had died. It is a monument to
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his father’s courage to save a friend and to the Irish American children who
died in the vast wilds of the American west.
We have no idea of the origins in Ireland of Martin Carrigan or Margaret
nee Gibbons Carrigan McFadden. However, the MCFADDEN family in the
United States and Ireland does not forget them or the part they played in the
building of the United States.
Notes
1. See Lawlor Chervenak, Mary (2007) “Aughagower’s Outpost: Butte City,
America”. Cathair na Mart No.25, pp. 64-93.
Mary Ellen Chambers is the great-granddaughter of Tadg and Mary Ellen (neé
Rooney) Fadden/Fadian/McFadden of Streamstown, Westport. Her great-grandmother
Mary Ellen Fadden was the second daughter of this couple. She emigrated in the early
1890s to Cleveland, Ohio. After securing a primary education degree (grades K>3)
Mary Ellen Chambers taught for six years before staying home as a full time wife and
mother for her five children. During that time she decided to pursue a nursing career.
When her youngest child Chrisann started first grade she began working as a Registered
Nurse at Cleveland Clinic and eventually specialized in Acute Care Nephrology
Nursing. She became Nurse Manager for the Acute Care Unit and started a paediatric
care unit. She retired in 1999. She lives with her husband Jack in Lakewood, Ohio.
Extensive information about Butte can be accessed through the website of the Allihies
Copper Mining Museum at www.acmm.ie
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The Westport Estate Papers
Brigid Clesham
The Collection
The Westport Estate Papers are now located in the National Library of
Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. The major part of the collection came to the
Library in 2001 and additional material in 2004. The collection had
accumulated at Westport House over a period of 300 years and it documents the
history of the Browne family, their forebears the Bourkes and O’Malleys and
their estates in four centuries. It contains approximately 42,900 items,
including more than 300 bound volumes, over 600 maps and plans, some
photographs and illustrations and is the largest landed estate collection in the
National Library from the province of Connacht. It is now preserved in 350
archival boxes and about 60 large size folders. Items from the collection may
be consulted in the Manuscripts Reading Room of the National Library. The
collection is unique because of the amount of 17th century material it contains
relating to Co. Mayo. However its main bulk is made up of estate
administration records from the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th
century. A fire at Westport House in 1826 may have destroyed some of the 18th
century records, possibly including some of those which documented the
development of the town of Westport and the building of the house and its
decoration.
The earliest document is dated 15411 and about 300 deeds predate 1650.
They are part of two series of parchment and paper deeds which record the land
transactions of the Bourkes, Brownes and others throughout the 17th century.
These documents give an insight into the changes in the land holding structure
of Co. Mayo, including the gradual infiltration of the Galway merchant
families from very early in the century and the effects of the Acts of Settlement
and Restoration. Some of the documents are in Latin and two are in Gaelic2. A
wider variety of documents cover the Jacobite War, the debts of Colonel John
Browne and the sale of his estates. The remainder of the collection is
comprised of the usual classes of estate administration records and includes
some rentals from the Famine years, an extensive amount of estate
correspondence and a large selection of maps. These records document the
administration of the Marquesses’ estates, the home farm and Westport House
during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Other records relate to the personal
lives of the Marquesses and record their military and political careers in
addition to their interests in sport, art, travel and family history.
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Arthur Howe Browne (1867-1951) 8th Marquess was the family historian
and the first cataloguer of the Westport Estate Papers. He spent some time at
Westport in the first decade of the 20th century when his father was Marquess
and it was then that he began cataloguing the estate papers. He acquired an
extensive knowledge of the estate, arranging and cataloguing the 16th, 17th and
some of the 18th century records in a chronological sequence. His catalogue
is contained in 36 black spring back folders3 and is made up of two series
relating to parchment and paper documents. Many of the early deeds are
described in detail or on some occasions a full transcription is given. The
information in his catalogue may in many instances fulfil the requirements of
researchers without consulting the original document. It can be determined,
from previous listings of the collection by the 8th Marquess and Sean Murphy,
who reported on the collection at Westport for the Irish Manuscripts
Commission in 19864, that some items are no longer with the collection. For
example, various series of correspondence were sold by the Browne family,
including correspondence of the 2nd Marquess purchased by Trinity College,
Dublin, in 19705 and some of the 2nd Marquess’ letters relating to Jamaica are
in the National Library of Jamaica6.
Westport House from the West, by George Moore 1761. Original painting located in
Westport House Collection.
(Photo. © Liam Lyons).
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The Browne Estates
Colonel John Browne amassed a huge estate in Co. Mayo in the last three
decades of the 17th century. He eventually owned land in every barony of Co.
Mayo, in six baronies of Co. Galway and in other counties. He trained as a
lawyer and no doubt his legal knowledge was of great benefit during the land
upheavals following the restoration settlement of Charles II. He bought land
from claimants and from those already in possession and also lent money
secured by mortgages on land. Much of his Co. Mayo property had previously
belonged to his wife’s family the Bourkes. Most of the Bourke estate was
confiscated during the Commonwealth and although eventually restored in
part, large sums of money were borrowed by the 4th and 5th Viscounts to
implement their restoration. An inability to pay their debts meant most of their
lands passed into the possession of their brother in law, Colonel John Browne,
who was their main creditor.
However by the mid 1690s the Colonel himself was heavily in debt due to
the costs of his land purchases and the Jacobite War. In 1695 an Act of
Parliament was specially enacted to deal with his debts. His estates were
placed in the hands of the Barons of the Exchequer, who were to act as trustees
for their sale.
During the 18th century the Colonel’s descendants reacquired some of his
estates in Cos. Mayo and Galway, including lands in the barony of Ross, Co.
Galway, which eventually became part of Lord Leitrim’s estate at Rosshill, near
Clonbur. Additional estates were also purchased, including the Claremorris
estate from Lyndon Bell and the Roscommon estate from Christopher Irwin
circa 1760s7, the Newport estate from Thomas John Medlicott in 17748, the
Oldhead estate from John Evelyn in 17949, the remainder of the Bourke estate
from Aylmer Bourke Lambert in 179510 and the Lehinch estate near
Hollymount from Henry Blake in 181811. Following the marriage of Peter
Browne (1730-1780) 2nd Earl of Altamont with Elizabeth Kelly in 175212 the
Lisduff estate in the barony of Longford, Co Galway and sugar plantations in
Jamaica came into the family’s possession until they were sold in 1820 and
1841 respectively.
George John Browne (1820-1896) succeeded as 3rd Marquess in 1845 just
as the Famine began. Although he sold off more than 16,000 acres in its
aftermath13 he was still by far the largest landowner in Co. Mayo in the 1870s
with an estate of 114,881 statute acres14. During the second decade of the 20th
century most of the estate was sold to the Congested Districts Board, and
ultimately to the Land Commission, in a very long drawn out process with
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regard to the registration of the Marquess’ title. However the large number of
records produced in this procedure provide a wealth of information about the
estate. The family retained Westport House and less than 4,000 acres.
The family
The Browne family of Westport was founded by Colonel John Browne,
second son of Sir John Browne of The Neale, 1st Baronet. The Colonel was
born circa 1636 and in 1669 he married Maud Bourke, great-great
granddaughter of Grace O’Malley, ‘Queen Granuaile’. Through the marriages
of his sisters Colonel John Browne was connected to the Lynch, Magawly,
O’Flaherty, Nolan, Fitzgerald, Bourke, Dillon and Malone families. His strong
reliance on this network of family connections is evident throughout the papers
relating to the late 17th century. The Colonel was a strong supporter of the
Jacobite cause, raising two regiments on behalf of James II and his iron works
at Knappagh provided many of the heavy weapons of war. The collection
includes letters and orders addressed to him from Patrick Sarsfield Earl of
Lucan, the Duke of Berwick and Richard Talbot Duke of Tyrconnell15. Colonel
John Browne was one of the signatories to the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, after
which his freedom of movement was curtailed on account of his debts.
Although officially declared dead by a Special Act of 1705, the Colonel was
party to a number of deeds in the following years and was evidently alive in
April 171116. The Colonel’s grandson John Browne (1709-1776) became a
Protestant in 1729. He was created Earl of Altamont on 4 December 1771. The
1st Earl’s grandson, John Denis Browne (1756-1809) 3rd Earl of Altamont,
married Louisa Catherine Howe, inheriting considerable wealth from the
Howe’s English properties and investments17. The 3rd Earl’s support of the Act
of Union gained him the title Marquess of Sligo in 1800. His son Howe Peter
Browne (1788-1845), the colourful 2nd Marquess, socialized in Court circles
and travelled widely. He was prominent in political affairs and was appointed
Governor of Jamaica in January 1834, overseeing the freedom of the slaves.
He married Hester Catherine18 daughter of John Thomas Burke 13th Earl of
Clanricarde and made extensive alterations to Westport House.
Much of the Westport Estate Paper collection is comprised of the estate
administration records of George John Browne (1820-1896) 3rd Marquess. He
took the administration of his estates very seriously and there are numerous
letters to his agents John Sidney Smith and Robert Powell containing his
directions regarding estate matters. His two brothers who succeeded him as the
4th and 5th Marquesses continued in the same vein and the registration of the
Brownes’ title to their estate began early in the 20th century. The tenure of
George Ulick Browne (1856-1935) 6th Marquess at Westport is also very well
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documented. Before his father’s death the 6th Marquess had acquired a wide
knowledge of the workings of the estate. He spent most of the years of World
War I at Westport, minding his estate, keeping a record of the Connaught
Rangers who were prisoners of war and contributing in various ways to the war
effort and local events. He made essential improvements to Westport House
with regard to plumbing, heating and electricity and also to buildings on the
estate. He laid out garden terraces, planted trees and developed the fisheries
and their lodges as sources of income. The collection includes papers referring
to his interest in family history, paintings and artefacts.
The Arrangement of the Collection
The finding aid for the collection is known as Collection List 78 and copies
may be consulted in the National Library, James Hardiman Library NUIG,
Mayo County Library, Westport Library and at the Clew Bay Heritage Centre.
The collection is listed in nine main sections, as follows: the original estate
formed by Colonel John Browne (1); the administration of the Co. Mayo estate
(2); the administration of the farm and demesne (3); estate enterprises (4);
Westport House (5); the administration of the Co. Galway estate, the Jamaican
estate and ‘Small Estates’ in Co. Mayo (6-8) and family papers (9). Crossreferences have been inserted in the text of the list and an index is appended.
The first section, which relates to the estate formed by Colonel John
Browne, contains over 3,500 documents from the 16th and 17th centuries.
These records were arranged by the 8th Marquess in two chronological
sequences that contain deeds; legal documents; a variety of documents
previously encased in 25 guard books including correspondence; account
books and other assorted papers. They record the history of the Bourke estates
in the 16th and 17th centuries; their acquisition, along with other lands, in the
late 17th century by Colonel John Browne and the sale of much of his property
after the Jacobite War to pay his debts. Ten of the documents are Letters Patent
dated between 1581 and 1681. The earliest Letters Patent confirmed the right
of Richard ‘An Iarainn’ Bourke to hold the title MacWilliam Eighter and
conferred on him the office of Senechal of Connaught, 14 April 158119. The
deeds are mainly conveyances of sale or mortgage, some are mentioned in The
Strafford Inquisition of Co. Mayo20 and Richard ‘An Iarainn’ Bourke and his
son Theobald ‘Tibbot ne Long’ were parties to some of the earliest ones.
Members of the families of McEvilly, O’Malley, Staunton, Bourke, McGibbon,
McDonnell, McPhilbin, O’Kelly and others were conveying their interest in
various castles and lands to the Bourkes in the early 17th century and in some
cases the Bourkes were leasing land back to members of these families in return
for ‘knight’s service’ at one of their manors. They were also selling land,
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sometimes on long leases, to members of the Galway merchant families, for
example on 1 June 1627 Sir Theobald Bourke and others leased the river at
Asdeagh (Aasleagh, Erriff river) and a moiety of the Bundorragha river to
Martin ffrench FitzPeter of Galway for 99 years21. Bonds, marriage settlements
and such items as the will of Melmery McPhelim McDonnell, dated 2 May
160822 and findings relating to inquisitions at Castlebar in 162523 and at
Ballinrobe in 163124 are also included. Some of these early documents were in
a fragile state on arrival at the National Library but have since been conserved.
Illustration 1. Signatures of witnesses to Martin ffrench FitzPeter’s lease of Aasleagh,
1627 with endorsement re his daughter’s marriage in 1647. Westport Estate Papers MS
40,889/5 (23-24). (© National Library of Ireland).
Other deeds and documents trace the acquisition of much of the Bourke
estate and other lands by Colonel John Browne in the second half of the 17th
century and the subsequent sale of a large part of his estate. An account book
gives a detailed picture of the estate at the end of the 17th century. It contains
a rent roll of the Colonel’s estates in Cos. Mayo and Galway, which gives the
name of the patentee, denomination of land, number of profitable and
unprofitable acres, yearly rent, main tenant’s name(s), what part was sold and
to whom, amount of purchase money, to whom paid and the amount paid. By
1704 all the Colonel’s lands in Co. Galway and in all the Co. Mayo baronies
except Carra, Murrisk and Burrishoole had been sold. One purchaser was
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Edward Fynn of Shrule, an ancestor of Oscar Wilde, who bought the lands of
Ballymagibbon near Cong in 169925.
The 17th century correspondence mostly concerns family and money
matters and is both interesting and tantalizing; for example Sir Henry Lynch of
Castlecarra wrote to his brother in law Theobald, 4th Viscount Mayo, in April
1663 of a business which ‘I should be loath should be made known to any’26.
In November 1704 Colonel John Browne wrote to his agent or clerk Luke
Hussey about a duel scheduled to take place at Kilmolara Church near The
Neale between Valentine Browne and Anthony Brabazon. The duel was
averted and the subject of the dispute, Bridget Bermingham, granddaughter of
the Colonel and niece of Valentine, soon afterwards married her cousin George
Browne of The Neale, 4th Baronet27. Other letters document some of the events
of the Jacobite War in Co Mayo and highlight the importance of Colonel John
Browne’s ironworks at that time. In December 1689 Colonel John Browne was
in dispute with Colonel Robert Feilding about the amalgamation of the two
regiments raised by him and which left to serve in France in 1690 under
Colonel Feilding, where they became the forerunners of the Irish Brigade28.
Records concerning Gerald Dillon of Feamore, near Ballyhaunis, Co.
Mayo, sometimes referred to as Garrett Dillon, are also to be found in this first
section. Gerald Dillon was a nephew of Colonel John Browne and became a
prominent lawyer and a Prime Serjeant at Law under James II. He left Ireland
after the Treaty of Limerick, forfeiting his estates. Papers belonging to Gerald
Dillon were in the possession of the Brownes in the 1690s and their presence
is still evident in this collection29.
The second section contains almost three quarters of the total number of
items in the whole collection – over 31,000 records document the
administration of the Co. Mayo estate of the Browne Family. A series of 38
letters from Peter Browne, while travelling in Ireland and England in 1718, to
his agent John Browne at Westport, give an insight into the management of the
estate in the early 18th century. The letters cover a wide range of subjects from
farming matters to international events. They include references to the
breeding of livestock, the employment of “the boat”, the iron works at
Knappagh, his servant who stole his linen and about whom girls were
constantly complaining, the war with Spain and the promise of the Archbishop
of Tuam [Edward Synge] to settle the clash about the Reverend Clark at
Westport30. Early 18th century rental accounts of the estate kept by John
Browne, agent, also survive31 and from the 1780s there is a more continuous
series of rentals and rental abstracts. However most of the records in this
section were generated in the Estate Office run by the estate agent in Westport
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from the 1850s. Some records from the Marquesses’ legal representatives and
some records kept by the Marquesses themselves are included. The different
classes of records include deeds, rentals, leases, accounts, legal papers,
correspondence, Land Commission Papers, printed papers, maps and plans.
Illustration 2. Map of Mount Browne, 1723. Westport Estate Papers MS Map 283 (f)
M. (© National Library of Ireland).
A John Browne was agent to Peter Browne in the early part of the 18th
century and a John Gibbons served the 1st Earl of Altamont.
George
Clendining and his son George were agents for the estate from the late 18th
century until 1847 when George Clendining Junior was dismissed. He was
declared bankrupt in 1851. His successor George Hildebrand, who had been
steward under the 2nd Marquess, was also dismissed and a court case ensued.
John Sidney Smith then took over the management of the estate in 1851,
followed by Robert Powell in 1881, George Taylor in 1904, Major Maurice
Doveton Wall in 1920 and William Moore in 1928. When Moore died in June
1937 his wife Henrietta took on the position of agent until 1952. The records
from the time of the succession of the 3rd Marquess in 1845 reflect a greater
interest in the management of the estate and a more organized method of record
keeping.
Besides documenting the lives of members of the Browne family the
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collection also contains details of persons who lived on the estate or who
worked for the Brownes – tenants, employees and suppliers. The rentals trace
the tenure of many families who lived on the estate and the observations
column sometimes provides details of a more personal nature, such as a death
or emigration. Parchment leases for plots of ground in the town of Westport
from the 1780s trace the origin of ground rents on many properties in Westport.
Most of these leases were for 3 lives renewable forever and many include
ground surveys of the particular plot32. Some leases are annotated with regard
to renewals, surrenders and evictions. A sizeable part of the section is made up
of legal records concerning court cases taken by the 2nd and 3rd Marquesses
against tenants holding large farms on the estate, such as Coolbarreen let to a
branch of the Browne family33, Carrowkeel let to the O’Malleys34 and Dhulough
let to George Houstoun35. Other court cases concerned such matters as the
embezzlement of funds by George Hildebrand the Marquess’s agent36, mining,
shooting and fishing rights and also mortgages held by the Alliance Company
on the estates of Lord Oranmore and Browne of Castlemagarret. Lord
Oranmore and Browne had also borrowed money from the 2nd Marquess and
many of the records relating to this case concern the management of Lord
Oranmore’s estates in Cos. Mayo, Galway and Roscommon, in the first half of
the 19th century37.
The 3rd Marquess took advantage of the Land Improvement Act of 1847,
obtaining a grant of £20,000, mainly used for drainage. Accounts covering the
expenditure of this grant include wages paid to labourers during the final years
of the Famine38. Over a period of about 40 years the 3rd Marquess wrote an
average of about 100 letters per year to his agents John Sidney Smith and
Robert Powell. They contain information about the management of his estates,
his tenants, public matters and local affairs, for example one letter in August
1866 refers to a cholera outbreak in Westport39, others document ejectments,
payment of poor rate, building of national schools, plans to reopen the Sheeffry
mines in the late 1850s, railways, elections and many other subjects. The 3rd
Marquess became rather disillusioned with the administration of his estate
towards the end of the 1870s, possibly due to the growth of land agitation and
maybe due to his lack of a son. Following his third marriage in 1878 to a
French lady he went to live in Guildford, Surrey.
Negotiations, at a local level, with regard to the registration of the
Brownes’ title to the huge conglomeration of land which they owned in the
early 20th century was mainly handled by the legal firm of Garvey and
Huggard based in Ballina. Large amounts of legal correspondence with
attached documents record the land registration process which began under the
4th Marquess.
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The records in the third section, which relates to the management of the
estate farm, demesne and garden, date from the 1820s to the 1840s when
George Hildebrand was steward and cover the late 19th and 20th centuries
when the farm and garden began to play a more important economic role as the
estate became considerably reduced in size. Lord John Browne, later 4th
Marquess, lived in the Westport locality from the 1860s and farmed an
extensive area of demesne and other lands. Some of the late 19th century
account books were kept by the 4th Marquess himself and include the costs of
going to fairs, wages, transport costs, the price of stock and references to ‘luck’
money40.
The records of six types of business enterprise connected with the estate
are contained in the fourth section41. An inventory of persons who were to
receive looms and receipts for flaxseed document the continuation of the
weaving industry in Westport well into the 19th century. Some of the weekly
accounts for the Westport Hotel, later known as Robinson’s Hotel, survive for
the year 1815. Legal papers document negotiations between the Marquesses
and other parties relating to mining rights on the estate, especially with regard
to the Sheeffry mines. A variety of papers record some of the developments at
the estate’s fisheries and fishery lodges, particularly in the early 20th century
when they became an important part of estate revenue. Likewise a forestry
industry was developed in the early decades of the 20th century by the 6th
Marquess, who planted trees extensively as a potential source of income.
Westport House was opened to the Public for the first time in 1961 and since
then the 10th and 11th Marquesses have developed the house and its surrounds
into a major tourist attraction. Bound volumes of accounts record the early
years of tourism at Westport House.
The fifth section entitled ‘Westport House’ contains bound volumes of
accounts which record the administration of the household under the 2nd, 7th
and 8th Marquesses. Cellar books of the 6th Marquess document wine and
spirit consumption while other papers give details of meals taken by family and
staff. Other accounts, correspondence, building specifications and drawings
refer to building works under Benjamin Wyatt in the 1820s and under H.R.
Vereker, architect and R.E. Mellon, building contractor in the early 20th
century. At that time the 6th Marquess undertook a major programme of
modernization at Westport House, installing electricity, upgrading the heating
and plumbing and developing the gardens. He also made improvements to the
Estate Office and gate lodges and to other estate buildings including the fishery
lodges. The subsection on the contents of the house contains valuations of
Westport House and family residences in England and catalogues, descriptions
and inventories of paintings, books, plate and silver.
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Title deeds, leases and rentals relating to the estate of Lisduff, mainly in the
parish of Tynagh, barony of Longford, Co. Galway, make up the sixth section.
The Lisduff estate came into the possession of the Brownes through the
marriage in 1752 of Peter Browne and Elizabeth Kelly, heiress and daughter of
Denis Kelly, at one time Chief Justice of Jamaica. Some of the earliest title
deeds relate to the Hogan lands of Ballagh or Levallagh, barony of Longford,
which were conveyed to Denis Kelly by John Prendergast on 19 Aug 175242.
The 2nd Marquess sold his Lisduff estate to William Burke of Ballydugan, near
Loughrea, Co Galway, in the late 1820s43. He had previously exchanged with
Ulick John Burke, 14th Earl and 1st Marquess of Clanricarde, a small part of
the Lisduff estate for some islands off the west coast, including Inishboffin.
John William Browne, solicitor, Dublin, was agent for the Galway estate in the
early 19th century.
The seventh section is entitled ‘Jamaica Estate and Governorship 17501852’. For almost a hundred years the Browne family owned sugar plantations
on the island of Jamaica, which they inherited from Denis Kelly of Lisduff.
This section contains deeds, papers referring to the administration of the estate
by power of attorney and to the 2nd Marquess’s time as Governor 1834-1836,
when he oversaw the liberation of the slaves. Almost all the records relating to
the 1830s document domestic matters in the Marquess’s household rather than
his political career. The National Library of Jamaica holds letter books relating
to his official position as Governor. Letters to and from William Ramsay,
Spanishtown, Jamaica in 1841 refer to the sale of the Marquess’s Jamaican
estates44. Other documents relating to the Jamaican property are dispersed
throughout the collection,
including a mid 18th
century inventory of the
personal estate of Denis
Kelly’s brother Edmond on
the island of Jamaica,
which lists the names and
value of 64 male and 105
female slaves45.
From the time that
Robert Powell became
agent in the early 1880s
until the 1920s the
Marquess’s agents appear
to have been responsible
for the administration of
Illustration 3. Inventory of slaves on Kelly’s
Jamaican estate, circa 1730s. Westport Estate
Papers MS 40,910/6 (© National Library of
Ireland).
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four other estates in Co. Mayo, which had connections to the Westport estate.
By the late 19th century an estate of approximately 3,500 acres, partly in the
parishes of Tagheen, Kilcolman and Crossboyne, barony of Clanmorris and
partly in the parishes of Annagh and Bekan, barony of Costello, was held by
James Denis Howe Browne of London, a grandson of the Honourable Denis
Browne MP of Claremont, Claremorris, only brother of the 1st Marquess. This
estate was originally purchased from Lyndon Bell of Streamstown, near
Claremorris by the 1st Earl of Altamont46. Percy Archer Clive, a captain in the
Grenadier Guards, held 3,891 acres in the townlands of Doona, Drumsleed,
Dooriel, Laghduff, Fahey and the Ballycroy fishery in the barony of Erris.
Charles A. Stanuell held 7,672 acres at Letterkeen, Srahrevagh and Srahmore
in the barony of Burrishoole, formerly part of the estate of Nathaniel P. Simes,
and Arthur R. S. Robertson held Breandrum or Windsor, Ballynew and
Carranaltore, Ballyneggan, Clogher and Knocknaskeagh in the barony of
Carra, bought from the 3rd Marquess by Colonel James McAlpine in 185447.
The Clive and Stanuell estates, originally part of the O’Donels’ Newport estate,
were subject to head rents payable to the Marquess of Sligo. These four estates
were known as the ‘Small Estates’ for administrative purposes. This section
also contains records relating to property in the town of Westport and at
Illustration 4. Rentals of Lord Oranmore’s Estates, 1823. Westport Estate Papers MS
40,966/7-10. (© National Library of Ireland).
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Killadangan held by the Patten family from the Marquess and managed by his
agents. There are three additional rentals relating to various estates in Co.
Mayo administered by Thomas Fair Ruttledge and others in the late 19th
century.48
The final section lists the family’s personal papers and includes legal
papers relating to marriage settlements, wills, English properties and trust
funds. There are also personal papers of individual Marquesses such as
correspondence, accounts, diaries and appointments. The personal papers of
the 2nd Marquess include a stud book of his racing stable49 and those of the 4th
Marquess include documents relating to Westport Parish Church. Designs for
stained glass windows for the new church dated 1878 by Alex Gibbs (later
known as Arthur Savell), were purchased by the 6th Marquess in 193350. The
personal papers of the 6th Marquess are the most extensive and include letters
written by such well known artists as Samuel Pepys Cockerell, George
Frederick Watts and Sir Frederic Leighton51. One subdivision contains records
of his involvement in the Connaught Rangers’ Aid Fund during World War I
and includes lists of Co. Mayo men serving in the British Army and Navy in
191552. The family history papers contain information about the different
branches of the Browne family and the Howe, Kelly, Dicken, Halsted, Hodgson
and Delamain families. Various subdivisions contain miscellaneous papers,
scrapbooks, newspaper cuttings and printed papers, photographs, prints,
drawings and books.
This collection is therefore a rich source for the study of many elements of
the social and economic history of Co. Mayo from the 17th to the 20th century,
providing primary source material for the academic researcher, local historian
and genealogist. In particular it documents, in great detail, the formation and
administration of the largest estate in the county by its owners the Browne
family of Westport and their agents.
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Browne Family Tree
Colonel John Browne = Maud Bourke
circa 1636-1711
|
Peter Browne = Mary Daly, widow of John Moore
1670-1724
|
John Browne = Anne Gore
Ist Earl of Altamont 1709-1776
|
Peter Browne = Elizabeth Kelly
2nd Earl of Altamont, died 1780
|
John Denis Browne = Louisa Catherine Howe
3rd Earl & 1st Marquess of Sligo 1756-1809
|
Howe Peter Browne = Hester Catherine Burke
2nd Marquess of Sligo 1788-1845
|
George John Browne = Ellen Sydney Smythe, Julia Nugent & I. R. Peyronnet
3rd Marquess of Sligo 1820-1896
John Thomas Browne
4th Marquess of Sligo 1824-1903
Henry Ulick Browne = Catherine H. Dicken
|
George Ulick Browne = Agatha S. Hodgson
|
Ulick de Burgh Browne
Arthur Howe Browne = Lilian Chapman
Terence Browne
Alfred Eden Browne = Cicely Womald
1878-1918
|
Denis Browne = José Gauche
|
Jeremy Browne = Jennifer Cooper
11th Marquess of Sligo
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Notes
1. Westport Estate Papers, MS 40,887
2. Ibid, GMS 1,306/1 & GMS 1,306/2
3. Ibid, MS 40,883/1-36
4. Analecta Hibernica No 33 (1986) – Report on the Sligo Papers by Sean Murphy
5. TCD Library, Ms 6403, 252 letters (1815-1839) to and from the 2nd Marquess of
Sligo
6. National Library of Jamaica manuscript collection, see ‘The Sligo Papers, An
Official View – excerpts from the letter books of Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquis
of Sligo, Governor of Jamaica April 1834 – August 1836’ in Jamaica Journal Vol.
17 No. 3 (1984), 11-17
7. Westport Estate Papers, MS 41,080/6-7
8. Ibid, MS 40,920/18-19
9. Ibid, MS 40,921/6
10. Ibid, MS 40,922/15
11. Ibid, MS 40,919/11
12. Ibid, MS 41,079/6
13. Ibid, MS 41,023
14. Parliamentary Papers – ‘Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards in the
several counties, counties of cities and counties of towns in Ireland’ (1876).
Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co. Incorporated, 1998
15. Westport Estate Papers, MS 40,899/3
16. Ibid, MS 40,906/5(15) & MS 40,984/11
17. Ibid, MS 41,079/18
18. Ibid, MS 41,079/29
19. Ibid, MS 40,884/1(1)
20. William O’Sullivan The Strafford Inquisition of Co. Mayo (1958), for example
Westport Estate Papers MS 40,889/6(1) and MS 40,889/7(1)
21. Westport Estate Papers, MS 40,889/5(23-24)
22. Ibid, MS 40,888/4(6)
23. Ibid, MS 40,884/6
24. Ibid, MS 40,889/39(1)
25. Ibid, MS 40,889/26(7-8)
26. Ibid, MS 40,893/6(16)
27. Ibid, MS 40,904/5(1-18)
28. Ibid, MS 40,899/2(8-9)
29. Ibid, MS 40,901/6(7-8) is a list of Gerald Dillon’s papers at Westport in 1699. A
rent roll of Gerald Dillon’s lands in the baronies of Clanmorris and Costello from
the mid 1680s is in MS 40,896/8(1-10)
30. Ibid, MS 40,909/5(1-20) & MS 40,909/6(1-18)
31. Ibid, MS 40,909/3(2) & MS 40,910/3(5-19)
32. Ibid, MS 40,929
33. Ibid, MS 40,962
34. Ibid, MS 40,964
35. Ibid, MS 40,975
36. Ibid, MS 40,967
104
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
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Ibid, MS 40,966
Ibid, MS 41,020/3
Ibid, MS 41,001/5
Ibid, MS 41,031/2-3
Ibid, MS 41,042-MS 41,047
Ibid, MS 40,917, see N 17
Ibid, MS 40,985/3-5
Ibid, MS 41,095/6
Ibid, MS 40,910/6(2-3)
Ibid, MS 41,080/6
Ibid, MS 41,023
Ibid, MS 41,078/1-3
Ibid, MS 41,095/9
Ibid, AD 3589/13
Ibid, MS 41,099
Ibid, MS 41,100
All illustrations in this article are the property of the Board of the National Library of
Ireland and are reproduced with its permission.
Brigid Clesham is a graduate of T.C.D. and a qualified archivist. She has worked in the
National Library of Ireland, the James Hardiman Library at NUI Galway, and was
recently employed as a researcher at the Moore Institute, NUI Galway, compiling a
database of sources for the study of landed estates in Connacht. Her special interests are
genealogy, local history and landed estate records. She lives in Cong.
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SS CLEWBAY
J.G. Anketell from Banbridge writes:
You may be interested to know that John Kelly Ltd., Coal Merchants
operating out of Belfast, had a fleet of 46 coasting steamers that sailed back and
forward between various Irish ports and those of the UK.
The Ministry of Shipping (later the Ministry of War Transport)
requisitioned coasting and short sea liners (those operating around the coast of
the British Isles and the near continent) and they continued to operate on the
government account until the end of the Second World War.
One of Kelly’s Fleet was the SS Clewbay. She was requisitioned from the
25th. November 1939 to the 3rd. November 1945, – a total of 5 years, 11
months and 8 days. According to the publication A Collier Fleet at War, printed
and published by Kellys, the Clewbay was specially fitted out for the carriage
of ammunition, mainly in the English Channel. In the Dunkirk evacuation, in
1940, she was ordered to render what assistance she could and was one of the
last ships to leave Dunkirk.
I am enclosing a copy of the report made by the Clewbay’s Captain, David
Bruce Ivor, about the Dunkirk voyage. He was from Newry, Co. Down and was
awarded the MBE for the actions of his ship and crew. Also enclosed are a
couple of relevant pictures. One is of the Clewbay which was subsequently sold
by Kellys and renamed. The other, from Kelly’s Website, is an illustration of
the action involving the Clewbay.
Captain Ivor’s report
on the Dunkirk action can
be inspected at The Clew
Bay Heritage Centre.
SS Clewbay was
renamed SS Ballygilbert
in 1952. It was sold and
broken up in 1959. see
www.newryjournal.co.uk
/ shipping in NEWRY.
SS Clewbay.
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Marconi’s Irish Wireless Station and the
OTHER American Connection
Gerry Bracken
Don Gibbons points to the site of one of the 300 ft. masts at Currywougan.
Photo: G. Bracken.
This year the town of Clifden celebrated the centenary of a great advance
in human communications.
While everybody knows about Marconi’s pioneering work, establishing the
first commercial wireless telegraph station in Ireland linking Europe with
America, how many people know about Marconi’s Receiving station, which
was set up six years later?
Certainly I hadn’t known until my friend Don Gibbons, ex Royal Air Force
Radio Operator, drew my attention to it recently!
The transmitting station commenced operation in 1907 from Clifden in the
extreme west of Ireland. For that area it was a major industrial undertaking,
involving the construction of a steam generating plant to produce 300kW of
electricity powering the transmitter, and the erection of lofty pylons to hold the
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aerials. Even a narrow gauge railway was constructed to draw fuel to the
generation plant.
But, with increasing use, Marconi found that messages could not be
transmitted and received simultaneously without cross-interference. To solve
this problem, receiver tests were carried out on hills to the north of the
transmitter, near the village of Letterfrack.
On successful completion of these tests it was decided to construct a
receiving station on Currywongan mountain and relay the signals by land line
back to Clifden, 10 miles away.
This is where the other American connection comes in, because the site
was on land owned by the Duke and Duchess of Manchester who lived in
Kylemore Castle at the foot of the hill.
The Americans have Dukes? Well, not quite. But the Duchess of
Manchester was an American heiress, daughter of a Mr. Zimmerman of
Cincinnati, and it was her father who bought the Kylemore estate as a wedding
gift for his daughter.
Some of the correspondence I have seen relating to the Receiving Station
Kylemore Castle. The Receiving Station was on the west side of the mountain.
Photo: G.Bracken.
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makes fascinating reading. The contract documents call for a supply of
electricity to the station from a water turbine, but in fact a diesel generator was
bought instead. Letters from his works manager, G.S.Kemp, to Marconi
describe the difficulties involved in erecting high masts on such terrain. In
December 1911 he wrote – “We have had a terrible experience here during the
past five or six weeks’ gales. The foreman cannot be sure of erecting more that
one cylinder per week to complete the 300 ft. mast. Rain and hail storms have
brought us to very short days, more uncertain weather and every chance of a
loss, to the present costly height, by a sudden squall during erection operations.
(The masts were in semi-cylinder six foot sections).
Progress in wireless communications with ever more sensitive equipment
soon made the Receiving Station obsolete and it was closed in 1916 after only
three years. Marconi’s Irish operations closed permanently in 1922 after being
wrecked during the Troubles.
Veldon’s Bar in Letterfrack has an excellent display of photographs
relating to the Receiving Station, including shots of the donkey teams used to
haul materials up the hill for the masts, and details of the handbarrows, carried
between two men, used for the same purpose.
Kylemore is now a Benedictine Convent since 1920 and a major attraction
on the Connemara tourist trail. Visit them- preferably in summer!
Gerry Bracken, a retired agricultural scientist, lives in Murrisk. He has used aerial
photography to throw new light on prehistoric features of the Irish landscape. He has
several articles on the subject, and a number of discoveries, to his credit.
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The Local Security Force in Westport
1940-1945
Vincent Keane
Volunteering for armed service in aid of government has long been a
feature of Irish life. The Fianna of old, of Fionn MacCumhail, were all
volunteers, tending to their homesteads in normal times and then mobilising in
time of need for the defence of Ireland. A voluntary militia was raised in
Munster when England went to war with France in 1666. This was a Protestant
force which was subsequently disarmed in1685 with their arms being
distributed to a Roman Catholic militia raised by Richard Talbot 1st Earl of
Tyrconnell.
During the Williamite War (1689-91) a new Protestant militia was formed.
It required that all Protestant males, between 16 and 60 years of age, muster for
four days training each year. This militia was mobilised twice, in 1739-40 and
again in 1745, to repel possible invasion, becoming moribund in the second
half of the 18th Century.
A new militia was established in 1793. Recruiting by compulsory ballot
provoked widespread and violent demonstrations at the time.1 By 1800 this
body had a membership of 25,000 men. Most of the officer class was
Protestant but the rank and file was predominantly Roman Catholic.2 This
militia was penetrated by Defenders and United Irishmen, which led to many
courts martial and subsequent executions. The militia was used to suppress the
1798 rebellion, yet suspicion as to its reliability continued. After the rebellion
the militia was used as a feeder for the regular British Army and was fully
absorbed into the British Army in 1908.
The Yeomanry was a part-time local force. It was composed in the main
of Protestants and was used to combat the threat posed by the United Irishmen
and Defenders movements. Some 30,000 men had enrolled in this force by
1798. This organisation terminated in 1834.3
The next great voluntary movement to appear in Ireland was the Ulster
Volunteer Force. It was set up in opposition to the threat of Home Rule being
granted to Ireland by the British Government in 1912. The UVF became
regular regiments of the British Army during the First World War, and suffered
very heavy casualties in that conflict.
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Shortly after the formation of The UVF came the Irish Volunteers. Formed
in Dublin on 25 November 1913 it eventually split when John Redmond
advocated that the Irish Volunteers should become regiments of the British
Army and join in the fighting in France.
This body had a membership of 160,000 men, the majority of whom
followed the leadership of Redmond and adopted the title of Irish National
Volunteers. The Irish Volunteers became the IRA officially on the founding of
Dail Eireann in January 1919. They were still referred to as the Irish
Volunteers, and by 1921 had a membership of 150,000 men.
In 1932 Fianna Fáil defeated Cumann na nGaedheal in the general election
of that year. The defeated of the Civil War were now in power and these were
very difficult years for the new Irish Government. The IRA was again gaining
considerable strength and influence and attracting the youth to its ranks. The
Blueshirt Movement was also gaining ground and street rioting with the
republicans was commonplace. In order to draw young men away from these
organisations it was decided to form a part-time reserve to the Irish Army.
Frank Aiken was the Minister of Defence at the time and, after consulting with
the Irish Army Headquarters, he gave permission for the setting up of the
Volunteer Reserve. This body was popularly known as ‘Aiken’s Volunteers’.4
Westport was one of the first towns in Ireland to organise a Sluagh of the
Volunteer Reserve. The first recruits were paraded outside the town hall on 29
March 1934. The Area Administration Officer for the Volunteer Reserve was
Capt. James ‘Broddie’ Malone.5 Michael Fitzgerald6 was the first Sluagh
Secretary and Lieut. Mulcahy from Renmore Barracks, Galway, was in charge
of local training.
The first volunteers in Westport were:
Jack Dever
Austin Hoban
Arthur McEvoy
Austin Forde
Thomas Reidy
Thomas Reynolds
Peadar Kilroy7
Charles McGee
Jack Cannon
Thomas Lally
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They wore the grey-green uniform of the historic Casement Brigade of
1916, which had been adopted as the uniform of the Volunteer Reserve. The
Mayo News of 1 April 1934 stated -‘all of them are as fine a body of young
fellows as one could see in any country and their appearance in uniform left a
very favourable impression on the townspeople of Westport.’8
The Westport Sluagh of the Volunteer Reserve was part of the Regiment of
Connaught. They drilled twice weekly in Petie O’Malley’s Hall on the
Fairgreen and took part in weekend camps and maneuvers at the Point,
Westport Quay. Membership for the town sluagh reached about 60 by 1936.
The volunteers were required to attend at the Curragh Camp, Kildare, for two
weeks training annually. This proved difficult for some volunteers as
employers had not yet become familiar with this new concept of part-time
soldiering, and there was still an amount of residual political bitterness
remaining after the Civil War of ten years earlier.
By 1935 the Volunteer Reserve
reached a membership of 11,000. In 1940
the Reserve was called to full-time duty
with the Irish Army.
In 1940, when Ireland was faced by
invasion, from both Germany and Britain,
the Irish Government decided that a local
defence organisation was needed to
support An Garda Síochána. Already, a
Coastguard had been set up and an Air
Raid Precaution organisation was
functioning in the cities. In Westport, a
cross - party meeting was held at the
Octagon in early 1940, where the general
situation regarding the war and Ireland’s
neutrality stance was outlined. The
attendance was asked to volunteer for the
various services that were about to be set
up for the duration of the war. The first
organisation to get off the ground in the
town was the Irish Red Cross. The Fire
Brigade was expanded to treble its
membership and a section of the Maritime
Inscription (Naval Reserve) was also
formed. Many young men were joining
112
Pakie Keane, Peter St. and
Liscarney, at the Curragh Camp
1934 during annual training with
the Volunteer Reserve.
(Photo courtesy of Vincent Keane).
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the Irish Army and others were crossing to Britain to join the various armed
services there. Hundreds left the general Westport area for England, where any
amount of work was available for the duration of the war.
A government order of 29 May 1940 directed An Garda Síochána to supervise
the recruitment of suitable candidates for a Local Defence Corps. The duties
of such a force were to include:
The providing to the Garda of information concerning:
(1) Observations on aliens.
(2) Observations on strangers visiting in their area.
(3) Suspicious happenings in the area.
(4) Assistance in aerial observation schemes.
(5) Assistance in coastal observation.
(6) Observation of shipping entering and leaving ports.
(7) Observation of transport.
The men of Ireland flocked to this new volunteer organisation, which was
named the Local Security Force and was under the direction of An Garda
Síochána. In late 1940 it was decided by the authorities to divide the LSF into
two separate groups; Group ‘A’ comprising of 84,000 men would come under
Irish Army control on 1 January 1941, Group ‘B’ comprising of 52,000 men
would remain under Garda control.9 Group ‘A’, the younger and fitter men,
would now become an armed reserve of the army, and were known as the LDF
(Local Defence Force). Group’B’, the older men, would be unarmed, and act as
a Garda Reserve. They retained the original name of the LSF.
In Westport the LSF came under the command of Sergeant O’Regan of An
Garda Síochána. A command structure was set up and was led by Michael
‘Sonny’ Gallagher of James Street.10 On the command staff were Tony Hoban,11
Bill Clancy,12 John O’Malley,13 Charlie Kenny,14 Pakie Keane,15 John Smith16
and Pakie Moran. The Westport LSF had their headquarters in a disused hall on
Distillery Road. The group comprised of about 75 men in total. Many of these
had taken opposing sides in the Civil war, but were now united in the defence
of their country. The LSF was a very visible force and they could be
encountered in many places as they went about the business of securing their
area. They were very smartly dressed in their blue uniforms, black overcoats
and forage caps. The staff officers wore Sam Browne belts to signify their
authority. With the other voluntary groups the LSF took part in parades, church
processions and field days with the LDF. During those years most people were
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involved in voluntary organisations and there was a great camaraderie in the
area. All patrolling by the LSF was done on foot or by bicycle, as there were
few vehicles on the road then, due to the rationing of petrol.
Very little of a suspicious or exciting nature occurred about Westport
during ‘The Emergency’. There were a few sightings of aircraft over Clew
Bay, a few bodies of sailors washed ashore, and the usual rumours of
paratroopers, invasion, etc. Yet, for almost five years, the men of the LSF
performed their duties diligently and were a great asset to the over-strained
members of An Garda Síochána in Westport. One task allotted to the Gardaí in
the town was to ensure that the public street lighting was turned off at 11 p.m.
each night. The ESB had installed a master switch in the barracks on James
Street and the last duty of the station sergeant, each night, was to put the switch
in the ‘off’ position and to log that happening in the station occurrence book.
There were the usual complaints regarding the turning off of the lighting,
especially from publicans, and residents of the Quay, where there was the
danger of people stepping off the harbour wall. Later, the lights were left on
until midnight. Householders were also advised to keep their blinds closed
after lighting-up time.
With the ending of World War Two the Irish Government started the
process of demobilising the large army and ancillary services that that had
Westport Group LSF at Newport Rd. 4 July 1945 on the occasion of their
disbandment. Tony Hoban in front, John O’Malley 1st in front row,
Charlie Kenny 1st in second row.
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existed since 1939. The LSF was officially disbanded in July 1945, but the
LDF continued on until early 1946, when it was reconstituted as the FCA.
The men of the Westport LSF met for the last time when they paraded to
Mass on 6 July 1945, under the command of Tony Hoban. At this time the
group had a strength of 50 men. After Mass the group paraded to the Newport
Road where they were addressed by Michael ‘Sonny’ Gallagher, who said‘…..your unselfishly given services are no longer required. Friday’s was their
last parade and right proudly might these men have held their heads on high,
for they knew in their hearts that they had done their part, that they had done
something of which they could be justifiably proud.’ The men were then called
to attention and the order ’Dismiss’ was given for the last time. They then
returned to the Garda Barracks on James Street, where a group photograph was
taken for posterity.
The following personnel were in attendance when the Westport Local
Security Group was disbanded:
Michael ‘Sonny’ Gallagher, James Street, District Staff Officer
Tony Hoban, James Street, Group Leader
Bill Clancy, Newport Road, Section Leader
John O’Malley, Castlebar Road, Section Leader
Pakie Keane, Peter Street, Section Leader
Charlie Kenny, Demesne, Section Leader
Pakie Moran, Drummindoo, Section Leader
John Smith, Mill Street, Section Leader
Martin McHale, James Street
Ned Guff, James Street
George O’Connell, Altamount Street
Alf McNally, North Mall
Johnny Hastings, St. Patricks Tce.
Tom (Roache) Geraghty, James Street
Ned (Manie) Grady, Carnaclay
Ned Kelly, Slogger
Peter Cannon, Carnaclay
Mark Ryder, Carnaclay
Charlie (Chappie) O’Malley, North Mall
Billy Kelly, Carrowholly
Pete Callaghan, Croy
Jack Moran, Barley Hill
Paddy Cawley, Mill Street
Josie Conway, Castlebar Road
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The Westport Local Security Force on the day of disbandment, 4 July 1945, Michael
‘Sony’ Gallagher, District Staff Officer, is fourth from the right, seated.
Frank Kenny, Demesne
Broddie Gibbons, Fairgreen
Pakie O’Donnell, South Mall
Ned Sammon, John’s Row
John Kelly, Altamount Street
Michael Foy, Lodge Road
John Joyce, Mucklagh
Paddy Fitzgerald, Buckfield
Brendan Casey, Old Walls, Carrowholly
Tom Gill, Buckwaria
Pakie McLoughlin, Castlebar Road
Michael Reilly, Newforest, West Road
Tommy Moore, Castlebar Street
John Dalton, Tyler’s, Shop Street
Larry Conway, Castlebar Road
Paddy Daly, Altamount Street
Jim Sheridan, Carnaclay
Tommie Hastings, Altamount Street
Michael McGowan, Davitt’s Tce.
Paddy Blaney, Altamount Street
Michael John Moran, Lodge Road
Jim Maher, Davitt’s Tce.
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The men were allowed to retain their uniforms. For years afterwards one
could distinguish the ex members of the LSF as they used their old uniforms
for everyday work use in this time of scarcity. During the war there were
incidences of people being fined in court for wearing their uniform parts whilst
working. As with the other uniformed bodies, the LSF members were awarded
medals by the government for their services during World War Two, or as it was
known in Ireland –‘The Emergency’. Westport became a duller place in the
post-war years. Things returned to normal as all the military activities ceased.
Most of the people who had emigrated to Britain stayed there as there was little
employment at home to return to. Tuberculosis was rampant in Ireland at this
time and many fine young people succumbed to the disease or were
hospitalised for long periods. Westport got more of its share of this dreadful
malady then. Rationing of many commodities such as tea, sugar, bread and
petrol remained in force up to the early 1950s.
Notes
1. S.J. Connolly, editor, The Oxford Companion to Irish History, 1998, p.360
2. Ibid. p.360
3. Ibid. p.601
4. Frank Aiken, the Minister for Defence, had been Chief of Staff of the IRA at the
ending of the Civil War in 1923. As late as 1932 he was making overtures to the
IRA to join with Fianna Fáil in establishing a republican government.
5. Broddie Malone, was now a full-time Captain in the Irish Army. Up to 1927 he had
been a member of the IRA, but then became a member of the Fianna Fáil party.
Aiken persuaded Malone to join the Irish Army and help with establishing the
Volunteer Reserve.
6. Mick Fitzgerald lived on Peter Street and had a motor garage on James Street. He
belonged to the IRA up to the time that Fianna Fáil got into government in 1932.
Both of his parents were schoolteachers in Bouris N.S, Louisburgh.
7. Peadar Kilroy of Newport was son of General Michael Kilroy, O.C. of the West
Mayo Brigade up to 1922.
8. Mayo News, 1 April 1934
9. LSF Circular, A124/40, 30 December 1940. (Garda Síochána Archives, Dublin
Castle)
10. Sonny Gallagher was a native of Brockagh, Newport. He was a member of the
Active Service Unit (Flying Column) of the IRA, 1920/1921. He stayed Republican
during the Civil War. He was interned at the Curragh Camp, 1922/1924, and had
the reputation of being the man who held out on hunger strike for the longest period
of time. In later years he owned a public house on James Street.
11. Tony Hoban of James Street had a blacksmith’s forge where Dunning’s Arch is
today.
12. Bill Clancy of Newport Road was a manager in Lipton’s Shop, Bridge Street.
13. John O’Malley lived on Castlebar Street
14. Charlie Kenny lived in Bog Gate Lodge, the Newport Road entrance to Westport
House Demesne.
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15. Pakie Keane of Liscarney and Peter Street was an employee of Reliable Shoes,
Westport. He had previously been a member of the Volunteer Reserve, 1934-1939,
and had also acted as secretary to that body in Westport.
16. John Smith of Mill Street was an employee of Shanley’s, Bridge Street.
Bibliography
Primary sources
The Mayo News, 3 March 1934, 1 April 1934, 7 July 1945
Private papers and photographs of the late Pakie Keane, Westport and Finglas,
Dublin.
LSF Circular A124/40, 24 May 1940, Organisation of the LSF. (at Garda
Síochána Archives, Dublin Castle)
Secondary Sources
Grob-Fitzgibbon, Benjamin, The Irish Experience during the Second World
War, 2004
Connolly, S. J. The Oxford Companion to Irish History, 1998.
118
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Voter’s List Prepared for Election to
Grattan’s Parliament in 1783 from the
Estate of the Earl of Altamont.
Submitted by John Mayock.
(The spellings are as in the old records).
Owen O’Malley, Rosbeg.
Randal McDonnell.
Matt Sterling, Ballinvoy and Aughagower.
James Blake, Gurtrencanny.
Wm. Huston, South Mall.
Thomas Tempster, South Mall.
George Brown, Ballinock.
Thomas Jackson, Tuarbuck.
James Smith, Tuarbuck.
Patrick Ormsby, Tuarbuck.
Hon. G. Browne, Moyne.
Robert James, Tubberaune.
Alexander Reed, Tawney Park, Knappainine.
Anthony Bohanan, Tubbernane.
Alexander Clendening, High St.
James Gaughan, Bridge Street.
Thomas Gerard, Bridge Street.
John Clark, Mill St.
Edward Huston, Roughane, Kilkil.
Valentine Fitzgerald, Octagon.
Henny Duffrild, Sandy Hill.
Hon. H. Brown.
George Goss, Bridge St.
Thomas Jordan, Bridge St.
Daniel Lackey, Mill St.
Mick Kearns, Mill St.
Mick Needham, Mill St.
Robert Shaw, Bridge St.
Thomas Gaughan, Mill St.
James McAnally, Tubbernane.
Edward Devine, Bridge St.
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Richard Walton, Mill St.
William Tackery, Bridge St.
Hon. John Brown, Killdavoggy.
Michael Buchanan, Tubberaune.
Hon. James Brown, Coolbarrack.
John Cornfield, Bridge St.
Dr. Lapworth, High St.
James Wallace, Bridge St.
John and Bartley Cornfield, Bridge St.
Thomas Little, High St.
Thomas Fitzgerald, Doonbrittan.
Ignatius Carter, High St.
John Leviston, Bridge St.
Hon. H. Brown, Glenumera.
Edward McGill, Bridge St.
John Barrett, Kingfisher Island.
Edmond Jordan, Kelsallagh.
Thomas Creeney, Deerintaggart.
John Clarke, Buckvary.
Jeremiah Davis, Furnace.
James and William Clark, Ardigommon.
Pat Stamford, Derrycroft.
Richard Baker, Bridge St.
Phil McLeane, Knockispricane.
James Dobbin, Knockispricane.
William and James Harwood, Bridge St.
William Bowen, High Street.
John Rock, Bridge St.
John Wilson, Knockunaslane.
John Parks, Tonranny.
Peter Brown, Octagon.
John Wilks, Knockispricane.
Thomas Fleming, Knockispricane.
Thomas Moore, Tawneypark, Knappamore.
David Davis, Knappamore.
Thomas Davis, Knappamore.
David A. Gildea, Kilkill.
Moses Morris, Kilkill.
Francis Higgins, Kilkill.
John Northford, Carrownalorgan.
James Davis, Shop St.
Elizabeth and Geoffrey Bourke, Letterkehane.
120
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James Wilson, Knappamore Davis.
Richard Maberry, Kilkill.
John Pierce, Knappamore.
Laurence McBride, Bridge St.
Ignatius Charles James Lynagh, Gowl and Mahana.
Joseph Lambert, Drissleane.
James Dixon, Ballinacarriga.
William Noone, Buckwaria.
Sam Wilson, Knappamore.
William Jordan, Inishmall Island.
Robertson Liveston, Tonranny.
Nicolo Peretti, Fresh Water Bath.
Thomas Wilson, Tonranny.
Thomas Arthur, Tonranny.
John Marshel, Tonranny.
William Stephens, Tonranny.
Robert Hudson, Tonranny.
Robert McNab, Buckwaria.
Thomas McCausland, Buckwaria.
John Sandys, Buckwaria.
John Gallagher, Buckwaria.
Joseph Acton, Buckwaria.
James Tighe, Buckwaria.
John Collins, Buckwaria.
Wm. Atkinson, Ardygommon.
Thomas Brown, Ardygommon.
George Goss, Ardygommon.
Thomas Cosgrave, Knappaghmore.
James Blean, Knappaghmore.
George Bermingham, Fairhill.
David Bole, Tauney Park.
Robert Atkinson, Bridge St.
Richard Farrell, Bridge St.
Henry Piatt, Bridge St.
G. Sterling, Bridge St.
Henry Gale, Menur.
Robert McGill, Bridge St.
John Kelly, Bridge St.
Bart Tolster, Tuerbuck.
Thos. Reed, Tawney Park, Knappagh.
Andrew Bole, Tawney Park, Knappagh.
Thomas Cunnagh, Knappagh Davis.
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James Blean, Knappagh Davis.
John Seymour, Pigeon Point.
Thomas Clark, Weaver.
John Clarke, 5th Dragoons, Weaver.
John Atkinson, - Breeches and Glove Maker.
John Bole, Knappagh Davis.
Robert Bole, Knappagh Cosgrave.
Edmond Kelly, Roslee.
Dan Kelly, Roslee.
John Kelly, Roslee.
James Fox, Creggawnagun.
John Cunningham, Batien Hill.
Richard Jones, Buckwaria.
Peter Toole, Buckwaria.
John Harewood, Buckwaria.
Archibald Cameron, Buckwaria.
Thomas Jordan, Touranly.
H. Hilderbrand, Cloonbanon.
Rev. Fr. Paddy Gill, Lecanvey, at the Mass Rock in Murrisk, August 2007.
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AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WESTPORT
PART 1
The Origins and early Developments of
the Town Westport 1750-1780
By Peadar Ó Flanagáin, B.A.
Introduction:
This article is an attempt to put into writing an outline on which a definitive
history of the town can be based. The principal difficulty in attempting a
definitive history at this time is the unavailability of a major archive within the
town. The sources on which this article is based are therefore the printed
sources presently available, together with such manuscripts sources as are
available for study. The opinions reached are those of the author except where
otherwise acknowledged in the text.
Westport is a comparatively recent town having developed over the past
250 years. In the present article the author will deal with the origin and early
development of the new town of Westport in the period 1750-1780 and will
refute some of the existing theories as to who planned the town.
Origins:
The town of Westport owes its origins to a number of factors:
1. Geographical location, sited near the mouth of the Carrowbeg River in the
corner of Clew Bay at the western extremity of the central plain. The
earliest habitation in the area dates back some 5,000 years and there is a
variety of archaeological sites in the locality.
2. The existence of an earlier habitation site, Cathair na Mart (The Stone Fort
of the Beeves), in the 16th century an important O’Malley stronghold
which was burned and destroyed by Sir Nicholas Malby, Governor of
Connacht in 1583 in his campaign against the Mayo Burkes. During the
17th century Cathair na Mart passed from the O ’Malleys to Lord Mayo
(Theobald of the Ships, a son of Graine Uaile), and from the 3rd Viscount
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Mayo to John Browne, a lawyer, who married Maud Bourke. Browne
raised a regiment in the service of King James and was one of the drafters
of the Treaty of Limerick. Colonel Browne settled at Cathair na Mart and
built a house on or near the site of the old O’Malley fortress. He was
succeeded by his son Peter to whom a curious monument exists at
Carnalurgan with the inscription ‘Orate Pro Anima Petri Browne Qui Fieri
Fecit A.D. 1723’.
3. The character of John Browne (1709-1776) son to Peter Browne, orphaned
at the age of 15 and sent by his Protestant guardians to be educated at
Oxford, from which he returned in 1729, conformed to the Established
Church, and inherited the lands about Westport accumulated by his father
and grandfather, which he proceeded to develop. He employed the German
architect, Richard Cassels to design the present East Front of Westport
House in 1732: this was executed in a simple style with cut limestone from
a quarry on the Estate, and the work completed, followed by the house
bridge (1734), the stable block (1735), and the old Protestant Church now
in ruins in the Demesne (1736). Waterfalls were constructed in the river
and the North and South Woods planted at this time.
The village of Cathair na Mart existed where the great park now lies and
consisted of a High Street with alleys descending down to the river. It had
a population of approx. 700 inhabitants. A small port also existed at the
mouth of the river. Roads lead from the village to the west (West Road),
the south (Sandy Hill Road) and the east (Old Paddock Road).
John Browne became an M.P. for the Borough of Castlebar in 1743, was
created Baron Monteagle in 1760, Viscount Westport in 1768 and Earl of
Altamont in 1771.
By mid-century he decided on the ambitious project of building a new
town on his estate, and he continued with this project until his death in
1776. It was completed by his son, Peter Browne, the 2nd Earl.
Foundation:1
It had been suggested that Westport was originally laid out and planned by
an architect.2 There are a number of variations on this theme:
1. The Cassels Theory - that Westport was planned by Richard Cassels in the
1730s.
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2. The Wyatt Theory – that Westport was planned by James Wyatt circa 1780.
3. The French Architect Theory – that the town was planned by a French
architect who came with Humbert in 1798.
The Cassels Theory – with the exception of his designs of the East Front,
Central Court of Westport House, Stable-block and Church, there does not
appear to be any other plan by Cassels dating from the 1730’s. The only other
building dating from this period is the Old Rectory which predates the town and
would possibly date from the period of the old Protestant Church, i.e. 1736.
The Wyatt Theory – which had been quoted in many reference books, would
assume a date of approximately 1780 for the town. Outside of his internal
design for Westport House (1782) and those of his son Benjamin Dean Wyatt
for a theatre in the town (1812) there is no evidence to support this theory.
The French Architect Theory – is more a matter of tradition and has no basis
in fact. It has been found convenient to adopt a theory that would credit a
particular well-known architect with the planning of the town, and in particular
in the case of the Wyatt theory, this view has become generally accepted and
quoted in most modern references to the town.
The question may now be asked as to who did, in fact, plan Westport. The
answer is not a simple one. Westport was not planned or built in a day or, for
that matter, in a year or decade. It developed over a period of more than two
centuries. If any one man is to be credited with planning the town, then it must
be credited to John Browne, who caused the town to be built.
We have an interesting first-hand account from this period from the pen of
Dr. Pococke who visited Westport in 1752 and was a guest of John Browne. He
refers to Westport (Cathair na Mart) as a village and states that Browne had
decided to remove the village and to landscape the area:
“We descended to Westport, a small village situated on a rivlet which
falls into that bay, and makes the south-east corner of that great bay, in
which there are some small islands.... Mr Browne’s house is very
pleasantly situated in the south side of the rivlet over which he has built
two handsome bridges, and has formed cascades which are seen from
the front of the House.....This is an exceedingly good house, the design
and execution of Mr. Castles (sic): Mr. Browne designs to remove the
village and make it a park improvement all round; there are fine low
hills every way which are planted and grow exceedingly well; the tyde
comes just up to the house and the cascades are fine salmon leaps”
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Two 18th century landscape paintings by George Moore dated 1761 at
present in the Westport House collection depict the house and district from the
east and from the west. In the painting from the west, Westport House is
depicted as a freestanding building, alongside the Carrowbeg River with its
bridges and falls. The stable-block can be seen to the left of the picture and the
spire of the old Protestant Church in the background. The north and south
woods and great park are in existence and there are what may well be
developments in the upper right-hand side of the painting, which could
represent the earliest part of the new town.
From the above-mentioned evidence I conclude that the development of
the present town was commenced by John Browne between the years 17501760,and that the earliest developed parts of the town were along existing roads
leading to old Cathair-na-Mart, Monument Street to the Fountain, the original
town centre, John’s Row leading to Tubberhill and thence to the West Road,
and Peter Street leading to Church Street and old Cathair-na Mart. At this time
the Carrowbeg River basin flowed to the North of its present course and this
part of the town was developed only in later years. Bridge Street led from the
Fountain to the river and Mill Street to the Old Mill that was situated under the
present viaduct. The Octagon, James Street and Shop Street were developed at
a later period.
Thus the early development of the town followed the natural lines of
communication and the Fountain, and later the Octagon and later still the Fair
Green became foci for radiating streets.
The early houses were stone-built structures, slate roofed and, for the most
part, two-storey with small windows, a number of examples of which still
remain on High Street, Peter Street and Bridge Street. The names of the street
were either descriptive - Monument Street, High Street, Mill Street, Bridge
Street or related to the Browne family- Peter Street, John’s Row.
The early town was quite small as there was as yet no major industry.
However this was soon introduced, and the linen industry in the early 1770s
was the foundation of the town’s later prosperity.
The best account of this period in the town’s history is that of the English
traveller and agriculturist, Arthur Young, who visited Westport in the year
1776. He arrived in Westport on 29th August:
“In the evening reached Westport, Lord Altamont’s, whose house is very
beautifully situated, from a ground rising gently from a fine river, which
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makes two bold falls within view of his windows, and sheltered on each
side by two large hanging woods, behind it has a fine view of the bay,
with several headlands projecting into it, one beyond another, with two
or three cultivated islands, and the while bounded by the great mountain
of Crow Patrick. On the right from the hill above the house is a view of
the bay and several islands, bounded by the hummolus and Clare Island
with Crow Patrick rising like a superior lord of the whole country and
looking down on the great region or other mountain that stretch from
Joyce’ Country.”
His host, the Earl of Altamont, he describes as “ An improver whose works
deserve the closest attention”. He describes the various improvements made on
the estate concerned with land reclamation, application of fertiliser, rotation of
crops and the introduction of the best breeds of English cattle.
He also describes the exertions made by Lord Altamont to introduce and
encourage the linen industry in Westport: how he built good houses in the town
which he let on reasonable terms to weavers and provided looms; and how he
lent them initial capital to buy yarn, which was spun from locally grown flax,
and how he encouraged the growth of a market for their produce by buying it
up for the first few years;
1772 - £200;
1773- £700;
1774- £2000;
1775 - £4000.
His efforts were not in vain as buyers were attracted to the town and the
market grew. He also encouraged the building of a bleach green and mill. As a
result of these measures the linen industry flourished in Westport and by 1776
was producing £10,000 worth of linen, and even at that rate of manufacture
they were only weaving one-tenth of the yarn spun in the neighbourhood.
The linens produced in Westport were of coarse quality and sold at from
9d. to 1/1d. per yard, the weavers earning 1d. per yard per day. The spinning of
the yarn that was carried out by women and children in the home earned 21/2d.
to 31/2d. per day. Young goes on to describe the living conditions of the people
in the area. The poor live on potato for nine months of the year and bread and
milk for the remainder. They have one to two cows, fish are plentiful. Menfolk
feed their families from labour in the field and the family income is
supplemented by the spinning of yarn by the womenfolk. Dealing with landholdings around Westport, Young states that most of the holdings are large,
from 400-500 acre stock farms, the cultivated land being sub-let at increased
rents “to the oppression of the poor”, who he stated “have a strong aversion to
these Tierney Begs”
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Rents average about 8/0d. an acre, ranging from heath-land at 2/0d. to good
land at 16/0d. Plowing is done by teams of horses, proceeded by a man walking
backways in front of the horses.
The population of the area is increasing rapidly and on Lord Altamont’s
estate has doubled itself within 20 years. There is no emigration.
Land leases were for the duration of 3 lives or 31 years and they sold at 21
to 22 years purchase at a rack rent.
Tithes were compounded in a lump sum. Rents had fallen over the past 5
years by 13/0d. in the pound, but by 1776 were in the balance with a tendency
to rise. Much of the land that was let was re-let into smallholdings.
From Young’s detailed account, we get a picture of Westport as very much
a rural town depending on agriculture as the chief industry. The introduction
and development of the linen industry gave the impetus for the expansion of the
town on the lines previously mentioned i.e. from the Fountain, down Bridge
Street, along Mill Street, and from the Octagon down James Street and across
Shop Street. The lower reaches of the town were the last to be developed.
In 1776 John Browne, 1st Earl of Altamont, died and was succeeded by his
son Peter Browne as 2nd Earl, who is listed as one of the subscribers to Taylor
and Skinners Maps of the roads of Ireland. This interesting publication gives us
the earliest existing plan of the town (1778). Though it is most difficult to
identify individual streets, the roads leading from the town are distinguishable
and it can be seen that the Carrowbeg River course has not yet been altered, and
there was only one bridge over the river, across the road leading from Castlebar.
There was no development north of the river.
Part of James Street, Mill Street and all of the Fair Green, Malls, Altamount
Street, Castlebar Street and Newport Road had yet to be developed. The
Octagon or Square as it was called may not have taken its present shape. One
of the most interesting buildings in the town dating from this period is the
Market House (Wyatt Theatre) with its four-arched cut-stone exterior closing
the view from Shop Street. This building has been attributed to James Wyatt,
but is more likely to have been designed or built, or both, by a local builder. An
internal plan by Benjamin Dean Wyatt, for the theatre for the town of Westport,
dated 1812 can be seen in Westport House, but his plan was not carried out.
With the death of the 2nd Earl of Altamont in 1780, Westport was a wellestablished and growing town with its small port at the Quay, as yet not fully
developed, its market for agriculture produce and its linen market. The only
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Taylor & Skinner Maps of the Roads of Ireland (1778).
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church at this date was the Church of
Ireland in The Demesne, the rector
was Rev. Alex Clendinning. A lease
for the site of the present Catholic
Church had not yet been granted and
Catholic services were most likely
celebrated in a temporary structure
at this time. The industries in the
new town included milling,
weaving, candlemaking and tanning.
Agriculture, fishing and hunting
would have played an important part
in the local economy.
Importing,
exporting
and
trading and manufacture would in
the coming years play an even more
important role in the development of
Church of Ireland in Westport Demesne.
the town and port in the years 17801820. The population, which was growing rapidly, may have been as high as
2,000 - 2,500.
The period 1780-1745 that will be dealt with in a future article was to be
one of rapid growth and development during which the town and quay took the
shape with which we are familiar today.
This article was first published in Cathair na Mart, Vol 1, No. 1, (1981).
Notes
1. See Mayock, John: William Leeson, Westport’s First Town Planner, Cathair na
Mart, No. 18 (1988), pp 135-42.
2. See Duffy, Fintan: Westport Estate and Town: an Example of Planned Settlement
according to Picturesque Principles – Part 1, Cathair na Mart, No. 19 (1999), pp 4864.
Peadar Ó Flanagáin (Peter Flanagan) 1947 – 1997 was the founding secretary of
Westport Historical Society. The Society grew from a series of lectures he gave in the
local Vocational School in the winter of 1976. A graduate of N.U.I. he was for many
years Officer in Charge of the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps in Westport.
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AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF WESTPORT
PART 2
Westport – a New Town
1780-1825
By Peadar Ó Flanagáin, B.A.
In my first article I dealt with the origins and early development of
Westport to the date of 1780 and refuted a number of theories as to who
designed the town.
In the present article I deal with the new town of Westport in a period of
rapid expansion 1780-1825 during which the town and port took the form still
familiar to us today.
The recession in the linen industry during the 1770s when the trade was
first introduced in Westport was now over. The Irish Parliament became
independent of Westminster and introduced freedom of trade, encouraging
entrepreneurship, which led to the growth of a middle class in the towns.
Leases that had been confined to a period of years, and not available to
Catholics, were now expanded to leases given for three lives, which could be
renewed in perpetuity. Such leases encouraged development and many of the
important building in the town date from this period as do the vast stores that
flank the quayside. These developments did not end with the Act of Union but
continued well into the first half of the 19th century.
WESTPORT HOUSE AND THE BROWNES
John Denis Browne succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Altamont in 1780.
He had previously served as M.P. for the County of Mayo. He was one of the
most influential men in the County, being Lord Lieutenant of the County,
Colonel of the South Mayo Militia and Leader of the Volunteers, whose flag is
still to be seen in Westport House.
The 3rd Earl extended the House and commissioned the English architect
James Wyatt to design the dining room and gallery. A round of festivities was
held in 1783 to mark the completion of those works.
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In 1778 the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was a guest at Westport. During his
stay he was taken oyster fishing in Clew Bay during which he caught a cold that
was to prove fatal, as he died shortly after his return to Dublin.
Denis Browne, a brother of the 3rd Earl, lived at Mount Browne near
Westport. He was elected M.P. for the county and High Sheriff of Mayo. He
was later to play an infamous role in the suppression of the rebellion in 1798.
The agent of the 3rd Earl was one John Gibbons, of Drummin, who resided
at Mill Street in the town. He and his family were to play an important role in
the organisation of the United Irishmen in the County and to pay the price after
the failure of the rebellion.
The 3rd Earl of Altamont in 1781 obtained Letters Patent from King
George III granting to him the rights to hold four fairs in the town of Westport
– January 1, May 24, Aug 6 and Nov 1 – together with the tolls and customs
and a court of Pie Poudre. This Charter has recently been acquired by the local
Urban District Council and historically marks the coming of age of the new
town.
THE NEW TOWN AND ITS INHABITANTS
The 1780s saw the rise of a middle-class, both Catholic and Protestant,
who became the principal developers of the new town and port of Westport.
One of the most prominent was John Gibbons Sr., appointed c.1780 as Agent
of Lord Altamont and who resided at Mill Street.
The MacDonnell and Higgins families settled in Westport at this time and
were involved in commercial activities, both in the town and at Westport Quay.
An inscription ‘C.H. 1780’ is still to be seen on James Street and ‘CMD 1783’
on one of the large warehouses at Westport Quay. The Levingston and
Hilderbrand families also settled here at this time. The Church of Ireland rector
was Rev. Alexander Clendinning and the Roman Catholic Parish Priest was Dr.
Charles Lynagh, who in 1787 received a lease of land for the building of a
Catholic Church and Presbytery, the Methodist Chapel (1791) and an Inn
(1798) now Cavanaugh’s Hotel. Only one bridge spanned the Carrowbeg river,
connecting Bridge Street with the road to Castlebar.
In 1785 some 80 leases had been granted in the town with a total rental of
£118.1.5d. The street names were as follows – Bellview (Johns Row), Bridge
Street, Castle Street (Church Street), High Street, James Street, Mill Street,
Monument Hill, Octagon, Peter Street, Riverside (Malls) and Shop Street.
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The Principal tenants (excluding The Brownes) in the town and district
were: Rev A Clendinning, John Gibbons, Senior; Charles Mc Donnell; Joseph
McDonnell; Charles Higgins; Patrick Clarke; Thomas Garavan; Edward
Jordan; Ignatius Lynagh; Patrick McGreal; Walter O’Malley; Patrick
Standford.
THE PORT AND QUAY
In 1780 Clew Bay possessed an extensive herring and oyster fishery which
was responsible for first establishing the port. The Corporation for the
improvement of the Port of Dublin undertook developments to improve the
harbour, the erection of a lighthouse and buoys and the maintenance of same
until the establishment of Westport Harbour Board in 1855.
The earliest commercial enterprises were stores erected in 1783 by Charles
McDonnell at the (quay) Demesne Gate. Over the next 30 years a whole range
of stores and mills were erected along the quays, together with a Customs
House and King’s Stores, and revenue and boatmen’s houses. Boffin Street was
the principal residential area of the quay.
By 1818 the Quay was fully developed as a port as the following
contemporary account by J.C. Curwen illustrates:
“On inspecting the port we found a noble edifice, buildings by Messrs.
Fitzgerald, as a warehouse, the scheme of which when finished is estimated at
£10,000. Government is laying out large sums on improvement in the harbour.
The export of grain from this port is considerable. Warm sea-water baths form
a part of the sumptuous
establishment of this
place.”
A contemporary
painting by James
Arthur O’Connor in
the Westport House
Collection, of the same
date, gives a view of
the quayside with the
Customs House and
warehouses in the
background.
Westport Quays by J.A. O’Connor, 1818. Original
painting located in Westport House Collection.
(Photo. © Liam Lyons).
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THE REBELLION OF 1798 AND ITS AFTERMATH
The influence of the French revolution of 1789 was felt even in the remote
towns of the West of Ireland. It was reported to Dublin Castle that Thos. Paine’s
Rights of Man was on sale in the streets of Westport. During the 1790’s the
Society of the United Irishmen was established in Mayo and its secretary and
organiser was John Gibbons Sr., Agent of Lord Altamont, who resided at Grove
House on Mill Street. Gibbons was in a prominent and influential position as
Agent though his militant activities were suspect by the authorities. West Mayo
was one of the few areas in Connacht where the republican ideal remained alive
after the brutal suppression of rebellion in the rest of the country. Lord
Altamont had been instrumental in encouraging the migration of Catholics
from Ulster after the battle of the Diamond in 1795. Many of those who
migrated settled in the Westport district and brought with them Republican
ideals. They were connected with the linen trade that flourished in this period.
When the news of Humbert’s landing in Killala in August 1798 spread
throughout the county, many recruits from West Mayo rallied to the cause and
arrived in Castlebar after the famous ‘Races of Castlebar’. Among those were
John Gibbons Sr., his sons Edward and John Jr. and his brother Thomas,
Westport having been surrendered to insurgents without a fight. Among those
who were prominent in the leadership of the insurgents were three clergymen
of the locality, Fr. Myles Prendergast of Murrisk Abbey, Fr. Michael Gannon,
recently returned from France and Fr. Owen Killeen and also O’Mealy an
apothecary from near Westport. James Joseph McDonnell of Carnacon, who
Kitchen of house belonging to John Gibbons Sr., Mill Street. (Photo © A. Clarke, 2007).
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had previously been engaged in commercial developments at Westport Quay,
and was commissioned a Colonel of the Irish Forces by General Humbert, was
sent, accompanied by a French Captain, to occupy and administer the town and
district of Westport. The Irish Forces had already occupied Westport House and
Mount Browne, and Colonel McDonnell set up his H.Q. in the former and set
about establishing law and order in the locality. The occupation, however, was
short-lived as Humbert moved north-eastwards towards Sligo and his final
defeat at Ballinamuck. The Crown forces soon re-occupied the town, under
martial law.
Among those proscribed as rebels were John Gibbons of Westport, his
brother Thomas and sons, Edward and John Jr. and Fr Myles Prendergast of
Murrisk. The first three eventually escaped abroad and the latter remained as
outlaws in the hills of Connemara, pursued relentlessly by Denis Browne, High
Sheriff of Mayo. Browne in the early years of the 19th century was to supervise
the hanging of his godson, John Gibbons, Jr. at a gallows erected at the junction
of Peter Street and Tubberhill in Westport , the only person ever hanged in the
town. His memory as yet unmarked in the town was relived in the poetry of the
blind Raftery. The political consequence of the rebellion resulted in the Act of
Union of 1800 backed by the Earl of Altamont who now became Marquess of
Sligo and by his brother Denis Browne, M.P. for the county.
WESTPORT AFTER THE UNION
The Act of Union had little effect on the prosperity that Westport was to
enjoy in the first quarter of the new century. The town and port continued to
expand, and as far as architecture was concerned to bloom into one of the most
beautiful towns in Ireland. McParlan writing in his Statistical Survey of Co.
Mayo (1801) states that ‘Westport, though built within 30 years, may be called
a pretty and not a small town, already of some consequence in trade and
expanding every day’, and he refers to the export of cargoes of manganese,
slates, and ochre quarried locally for the English markets. He states that a free
school for the education of the poor children had recently opened in the town,
that there was also the forty shilling school of the parish, and that every two or
three villages had a school numerously attended. He refers to bleach mills,
many oat-mills and one threshing mill, of the most improved and extensive
construction on Lord Sligo’s Demesne. In 1800 also Mr. Levingston opened a
brewery in the town on the site of what is now the pedestrian entrance to the
car park from Bridge Street. The migration of linen weavers from Co. Armagh
after 1795, encouraged by Lord Altamont also helped the continued growth of
the linen trade and Westport had a flourishing linen market held, probably at
this period, in the Market House at the Octagon.
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The newly promoted Marquess of Sligo now embarked on a very ambitious
project of town planning which he must have had in mind for considerable time
and which, when completed, would give to the future generations something to
be proud of and to continue to conserve i.e. the Malls – a quarter mile of treelined boulevards flanking the embanked Carrowbeg Rover, with two cascades,
crossed by three stone-arched bridges, the whole flanked by public buildings,
town houses and private dwellings with a unifying Georgian character. This
project, even at that period, could not have cost less than £10,000 and possibly
twice that amount. The Carrowbeg river at that time flowed to the north of its
present course. It had to be canalised to flow in a straight line through the centre
of the town. Even today such an operation would be a major undertaking.
There is no precise date for the Malls but, from documentation available, I
conclude that a plan existed as early as the mid-1780s and that the most likely
time for the construction was 1800-1810. A document in the Public Records
Office, Dublin throws some light on the dating. It refers to a lease of premises
in James Street to Alexander Brice, 22 October 1796, on which one house was
then built. The property was re-leased by Brice to Lord Sligo, on 1st September
1807, and was subsequently leased by him to Houseman. At the end of the
document was a curious detail – ‘James Street now called North Mall’. The
premises in question, still in the Sligo family is the corner building of the North
Mall – previously known as Westport Reading Rooms – and the adjoining
house on Newport Street.
An Inn was built by Lord Sligo for the use of travellers to the town,
furnished by him and let at a nominal rent. This imposing building – presently
Cavanaugh’s Hotel –
with its flanking arcaded
wings, which were used
for
many
various
purposes down the
years,
was
the
centrepiece
of
the
smaller North Mall. On
the South side the
Gothic facade of the
Catholic Church built in
1813 by Dr. Kelly, P.P. at
a cost of £6,000 donated
by public subscription,
with
its
flanking
Robinson’s Hotel, 1881.
parochial residences,
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Page 137
equalled the buildings on the North side. Also on the South Mall there was
erected in 1791 a Methodist Chapel. Bridge House at the end of the North Mall
would also date from this period with the present Bank of Ireland at a later date.
The Malls were substantially finished by 1818 as can be seen from the
painting by James Arthur O’Connor of this date, showing the town, looking
across the Fair Green from Knockranny Hill.
The building of the actual Mall walls and bridges was by local contractors.
The western bridge was built by Patrick Conway who owned property on Peter
Street. This would appear to be the last of the bridges built, and until recently
widened by Mayo County Council, gave the impression of being unfinished on
the Demesne side. At this period the entrance to Westport House was relocated at the Mall, where gates and a lodge were erected, having previously
been at the Paddock corner.
Castlebar Street was built also at this time leading from the centre bridge
to Westport Lodge – now the Sacred Heart School – then the town residence of
the Levingston family. The Malls were also linked with the Fair Green which
dates from this period.
John’s Row was further developed at this period when an extensive Army
barracks was built there which was capable of housing five companies of
Infantry.
J.C. Curwen who visited the town in 1818 states ‘The plan of the town of
Westport is regular and it contains many handsome houses. The Inn is on a
scale suited to the most frequent place in the island exhibiting great liberality
on the part of the proprietor’.
The development of the town led to an increase in population from
approximately 1,000-1,785 to about 2,500-3,000 in 1815. The number of
tenancies in the latter year was 230, of which the largest leaseholders were John
Large £205.13s.9d; Robert Patten £197.12s.9d; Henry Patten £33.1s.3d;
Colonel Browne £24.12s.0d; Philip Carr £22; George Lawrence £21.4s.6d;
£52.13s.4d. was paid by the Collector of the Revenue at Foxford for the Port
Surveyor’s and Boatmen’s Houses and £41.00 by the Collector of Tolls and
Customs who occupied the Market House in the Octagon.
A visitor to Westport in 1823, T Reid reported that:
‘The Most Noble the Marquis of Sligo is proprietor of the town of Westport
and a vast tract of coarse mountainous country in its vicinity. It is a thriving
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little place; the streets paved and flagged; the houses neatly built of stone
and slate, from quarries of that material in the neighbourhood. It has a smart
linen market, which is attended chiefly by weavers who have migrated from
the County of Armagh within the last 20 or 30years. A considerable trade in
pork and oats is also carried on, but the harbour is too small and the channel
too narrow and intricate for extensive commerce’.
The rapid expansion of the town led to the need for a banking service and
in the year 1825 George Clendinning, who was Lord Sligo’s agent since 1798,
was appointed as Agent of the Bank of Ireland, one of the first seven branches
of the Bank outside of Dublin.
Pigot’s Directory, published in the year 1824, gives us a picture of the town
at the end of the period we are now examining. The Post Office was on the
Mall, probably in one of the wings of the Hotel that also housed the Linen Hall
and Court House. James Tayler was Post Master and Stamp Distributor, and
also acted as Ships Agent and Broker and was the Magistrate’s Clerk. The local
Court or Petty Sessions was held weekly, and minor cases were dealt with by
local magistrates or Justices of the Peace – Capt T.D. Browne; George
Clendenning; Edward Fitzgerald Higgins. The Chief Constable, S. Jones, Esq.,
was responsible for law and order in the town. Lieutenant Irwin was in charge
of the Water Guard, the predecessors of the Coast Guard. Most of the local
gentry were officers of the South Mayo Militia, a force similar for the modern
F.C.A. who were under the nominal command of Lord Sligo as Colonel.
James Lougheed ran a gentleman’s boarding academy on the Mall. There
were four apothecaries, six bakers, ten shoemakers and two breweries –
Levingstons and Farrells – both on Bridge Street. There were grocers,
ironmongers, leather sellers, linen and woollen drapers, painters and glaciers,
saddle and harness-makers and tallow chandlers. The most numerous trade was
that of the publican with a total of thirty, of whom half were situated on Bridge
Street.
The Dublin Mail left from the office on James Street (also known as
Higgins Street) daily at 3.07am for Ballinasloe, returning to Westport at
9.50pm.
To end the period we are discussing, on November 1825, by Letters Patent,
King George IV granted Market rights to Lord Sligo for the new town of
Westport.
The next article in the series will deal with Westport before and after the
Great Famine.
This article was first published in Cathair na Mart Vol. 2, No. 1, (1982).
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Page 139
Lord Sligo’s Visit to Mycenae
Aiden Clarke
In the early nineteenth century
Greece, romanticised by Lord Byron,
was the playground of the British
aristocracy.
They
were
given
untrammelled access to the remnants of
Ancient Greece by the ruling Ottoman
Empire.
In 1811 Howe Peter Browne, Second
Marquess of Sligo, chartered a ship and
sailed for Greece. He was widely read in
Greek history and on Greek Antiquities.
He excavated around the ancient city of
Mycenae and came across the entrance to
what is now known as the Treasury of
Atreus.
Treasury of Atreus.
The Treasury of Atreus is a large tholos (vaulted chamber) tomb with a
long entrance passage, a huge corbelled chamber and a smaller side chamber.
It was built about 1250 BC. The entrance had an
elaborate façade 10.50 m high flanked by
engaged columns as high as the lintel. The
columns are made of greenish marble decorated
with zigzag flutes picked out with spirals. The
tomb was robbed in antiquity and there is no
information on either the grave goods or the
burials it once housed. The entrance was never
buried by earth and remained always visible,
attracting the attention of ancient and later
travellers
The Marquess had his men remove the
columns and convey them to his ship. It was
1812 when they eventually returned to London.
The Marquess was arrested and put on trial at the
Old Bailey, not for the looting of treasure, but
for bribing two Royal Navy seamen to desert
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09:20
Page 140
Interior of Treasury.
their warship and help sail his own ship home. He was found guilty, fined
£10,000 and sentenced to four months in Newgate prison. His widowed mother,
who attended the trial, was so impressed by the judge, Sir William Scott, that
she later married him.
Nothing was heard of the
missing artefacts until they were
discovered in a basement at
Westport House in 1906. The then
Earl of Altamont, later the Sixth
Marquess, had no idea where they
came from. After extensive
research he decided that they could
have come from Mycenae. He
made tracings of the bottoms of the
columns, took them to Mycenae
and placed them on the broken
bases. They fitted exactly.
The British Museum was
prepared to offer him £10,000 for
the artefacts. Instead, he presented
them. In return, replicas were sent
Entrance to Treasury. Bases of columns
can be seen bottom right and bottom left.
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Page 141
to Westport. In 1943 they were erected, in memory of the Seventh Marquess,
on the South Wing of Westport House.
Sources
The 10th Marquess of Sligo (1981), Westport House and The Brownes.
Spathari, Elsie (2001), Mycenae. A guide to the history and archaeology, Athens,
Hesperos editions.
Information Board at Mycenae.
Replica columns, Westport House.
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Page 142
Important Find Near
Louisburgh
While cutting turf on
his bog at Knockeen, near
Cregganbaun, on May 21st
2007, Mr. Owen McNally
made a significant discovery. He unearthed a
large wooden bowl-like
object two feet under the
surface. The object, which
is perfectly intact, is
believed to date from the
Iron Age, possibly 2,500
years ago.
The find was reported
to the National Museum of
The McNally family, Feenone, Louisburgh
with the wooden bowl. From left: Lorraine,
Irene, Owen, Fintan and Matthew.
Grianghraf: c Cormac Ó Cionnaith.
Ireland and was removed there for
conservation and investigation.
Owen McNally believes he was very
fortunate to make the find as his turf is
usually cut by machinery.
He also made another intriguing find,
on another occasion, while clearing out an
attic.
This is the remains of an ancient
wooden chair that was possibly another
bog find.
Remains of wooden chair.
Grianghraf: c Cormac Ó Cionnaith.
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Recent Publications
Harry Hughes and Áine Ryan, Charles Hughes: Lankill to Westport,
1876-1949. Charles Hughes Ltd. and Portwest Ltd., 2007. 351p.
ISBN 0-9536086-7-0. Price €20. Hbk.
This biography tells the story of Charles
Hughes’ journey from a small farm outside
Westport and his contribution to political progress,
industrial development and the commercial life of
his native county.
Joining the United Irish League in his youth, he
progressed to the Irish Volunteers in 1914 and was
interned in Frongoch after the 1916 rising. Taking
part in The War of Independence he was forced to
“go on the run” and the drapery business he had set
up came under attack.
When peace came his business thrived and in the 1930s, with John J.
O’Malley, he set up the Irish Sewing Cotton Co. and the Reliable Shoe Co.
Those and similar other enterprises provided a foundation for future industrial
development in Westport.
This well-researched book is an essential read for anyone interested in the
history of the twentieth century in rural Ireland.
Westport Walks, Siúlóidi Chathair na Mart. www.westporttourism.com
2007. Free from Tourist Office, Hotels, Guest
Houses and B&Bs.
This booklet gives details of seven walks in
the Westport area, five easy family walks and two
more strenuous rambles.
The walks are accompanied with individual
maps and notes on the history, topography and
wildlife that can be examined along the way.
Distances and approximate times are given.
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Page 144
Paul Gosling, Conleth Manning and John Waddell ed. New Survey of Clare
Island, Volume 5: Archaeology. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2007. 368p.
ISBN-13: 978-1-904890-16-4. Price €40. Pbk.
This volume presents the results of
archaeological research conducted between
1992 and 2004 as part of the Royal Irish
Academy’s New Survey of Clare Island. It
catalogues 256 sites, monuments and artefacts
recorded on the island. It also reports on eight
archaeological excavations; a promontory fort,
an enclosure, a boundary wall, a pre-bog wall
and four fulachtaí fia. It complements Volume
4 which dealt with Clare Island Abbey.
The volume is divided into three main
sections: analysis, survey and excavation. Of
particular interest are the results of the
investigations of pollen and radiocarbon
samples. The islanders themselves played an important role in the identification
and recording of the new archaeological discoveries.
Clodagh Lynch and Olive Carey, Rian na Manach, A guided tour of
Ecclesiastical Treasures In County Clare. With an introduction by
Dr. Peter Harbison. Clare County Council and The Heritage Council 2007.
pp. 60. ISBN 970-0-9545301-2-9. Price €4.
This booklet is a guide to the church sites
in County Clare where there is public access.
The county is divided into four trails that are
presented on a foldout map. Thirty three sites
are given a full description with a further
twenty five listed on the individual trails.
The booklet is illustrated with superb
drawings, photographs and maps. Clare
County Council is to be complimented on this
publication and other counties could follow
their initiative.
144
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Page 145
Appreciations
JOHN T. (JACKIE) FOLEY, WESTPORT, 1942-2007.
Jackie Foley passed away suddenly on Reek Sunday, July 29, 2007.
He had recently retired as FÁS Development Officer for Mayo. In that
position he gave invaluable help to many community projects throughout the
county, not least to The Clew Bay Heritage Centre.
He had a deep interest in the history and heritage of his native town and
launched Cathair na Mart No. 19. He also enlivened many of our other
launches with his presence.
Coming from a family with a long musical tradition he joined Westport
Town Band as a schoolboy and stayed with it down the years. Playing and
singing with the late Basil Morahan and later with his own group, Twice as
Nice, his cheerful disposition endeared him to all.
He was very active in the community with Westport Credit Union, the
Lions Club, Westport United, St. Patrick’s Drama Group, St. Mary’s Church
and many other organisations. When I asked him, a couple of years ago, to
write down some of his wonderful stories for this journal his reply was – “when
I retire, cove”. His retirement was all too short.
Westport Historical Society extends our deepest sympathy to his wife
Maureen and to Kieran, Joan, Rhona and Maeve. May he rest in peace. A.C.
TONY DONOGHUE, CREEVY, CASTLEHILL, CROSSMOLINA.
Tony Donoghue passed away on November 14th 2006, aged 86.
Tony was a noted local historian and a stalwart member of the North Mayo
Historical Society for many years. He was on the editorial board of the
Crossmolina parish magazine, The Chronicle, for a number of years and was
the driving force behind it’s first publication in 1993.
He published a number of books including The History of Crossmolina
(2003), and his collection of local songs, poems and ballads From the Shadow
of Nephin.
May he rest in peace.
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DONALD GEOFFREY GIBBONS, NORFOLK AND WESTPORT,
1924-2006.
Don Gibbons and his wife Mary lived at St. Patrick’s Chair, Bohea,
Westport, an address of which he was very proud. It was my research into the
antiquities of South West Mayo, twenty years ago, which first brought us
together.
Far from resenting my intrusion on their land to see the National
Monument there was always a welcome for me, and for countless strangers
who arrived at their gate for the same purpose.
Don and I became close friends, sharing an interest in flying, vintage cars,
old radios and good music, especially after Mary died in 1998. He also had
many friends in golfing and amateur radio circles and in the Lion’s Club, a
charity he actively supported.
Flight Lieutenant D.G. Gibbons served as a Radio Officer in the Royal Air
Force during and after World War II on B-29s, Comets and Canberras. He was
a fine figure of a man and was the Standard Bearer at the Independence
Ceremony in India in 1947.
In 2005 I was priveleged to accompany Don to the Rembrance Day
Ceremonies in Singapore, sponsored by the Royal British Legion. B.M.
May Don and Mary rest in peace. G.B.
BRIAN MANNION, AYLE, WESTPORT.
Brian Mannion passed away on October 29th 2007.
Brian was a native of Kilbannon, Co. Galway. He worked for over 35 years
in the Westport area as Field Officer in the Farm Development Service under
the Department of Agriculture.
A Vice-President of Westport Historical Society, he was a founder member.
He was very involved in the setting up of the Clew Bay Heritage Centre and in
1996 succeeded the late John Bradley as its Curator. Brian contributed several
articles, about the history of his beloved Aghagower, to this journal.
Westport Historical Society extends our deepest sympathy to his wife
Mary and Family. May he rest in peace.
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Westport Historical Society
wishes to thank the following for their generous support.
Hastings & Co., Insurance Brokers, Westport.
O’Connor’s SuperValu, Westport.
Connacht Gold, Tubbercurry.
Seamus Duffy’s Bookshop, Westport.
Mc.Loughlin’s Bookshop, Westport.
Berry Print, Westport.
Berry’s Stationery and Art Shop, Westport.
Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Westport.
Harbour Mill Apartments, The Quay, Westport.
Corrib Oil, Reekview Service Station, Westport.
Hoban’s Centra, The Quay and Westport.
Hoban’s Bar, The Octagon, Westport.
Moran Electrical, Westport.
Treacy’s Pharmacy, Westport.
Martin O’Grady, Westport Furnishings Ltd.
Michael Browne, Solicitors, Westport.
James Hanley, Solicitors, Westport.
P.J. Clarke T.V., Expert Electrical, Westport.
C&C Cellular, Westport.
O’Donnells Footwear, The Mall, Westport.
Pat Bree, Man’s Shop, Westport.
Hewetson Bros., Angling and Outdoor Shop, Westport.
Albany Home Décor, Westport.
Jack Dylan, Jewellers, Westport.
John Moran, The Long Acre, Westport.
Hugh O’Donnell, Aisling Crafts, Westport.
Tom Staunton, Insurance Brokers, Westport.
D.A. O’Sullivan, Accountants, Westport.
Ulster Bank Ltd., Westport.
Westport Plaza Hotel.
Wyatt Hotel, Westport.
Westport Credit Union Ltd.
Herterich Meats, Westport.
Westport House and Country Park.
Mayo County Council.
Westport Town Council.
Westport Chamber of Commerce.
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Page 148
Friends of
The Clew Bay Heritage Centre
Noelene Crowe, Castlebar.
Gerardine Cusack, Dublin.
Mary Muldoon, Westport.
Mickie Berry, Westport.
Piaras Ó Raghallaigh, Cathair na Mart.
Suzette Hughes, Westport.
Anna May McCreave, Westport.
Patsy Gibbons, Westport.
Anne Duffy, Westport.
Robert J. Earls, U.S.A.
Pauline Ford, Essex, England.
Fionnuala Kilfeather, Co. Dublin.
Noreen Sadler, Westport.
Helen Fahy-O’Malley, Louisburgh.
Donal Buckley, Castlebar.
Joe McGovern, Newport.
Peter Shanley, Westport.
Shirley Piggins, Westport.
John Mulloy, Westport.
June Bourke, Westport.
Seán Staunton, Westport.
Milo Spillane, Co. Limerick.
Janet Ruddy, California, U.S.A.
Paula Needham, Kilsallagh.
John J. Morrison, Chicago, U.S.A.
W.J.P. Curley, Newport.
Seamus O’Connell, Westport.
Lyn Rogers, New Mexico, U.S.A.
Michael Moran, Limerick.
Ann Falvey, Herts. England.
Anthony Jordan, Dublin.
Owen Hughes, Westport.
John Curry, Dublin.
Dymphna Joyce, Castlebar.
Barbara Burns, Westport.
Joseph McGough, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Jeanne M. Boisseau, Bethlehem, U.S.A.
Michael McLoughlin, Claremorris.
Paul Keogh, Dublin 6.
Patricia Plympton, Alexandra, U.S.A.
Mary O’Mahony, Cross.
Michael McDonnell, Adelaide, Australia.
Peter O’Malley, Adelaide, Australia.
Liamy McNally, Westport.
Donal Sammin, Dublin 3.
Vincent McEvilly, San Francisco, U.S.A.
Jennifer Waldron Lynch, Co. Meath.
Michael O’Sullivan, Westport.
Kevin Cullen, Milwaukee, USA.
John Shanley, Westport.
John and Mercy Staunton, Westport.
Eleanor deEyto, Newport.
Michael Browne, Westport.
Martin Curry, Westport.
Eiméar Cadden, Westport.
Christy Cunniffe, Clonfert.
Mary Russell, Murrisk.
Westport Historical Society would like to thank our Friends and those who contributed
to our Annual Collection. Their support is essential for the survival of the Clew Bay
Heritage Centre.
You too can become a Friend by making a donation of €30 (or equivalent) to Hon.
Treasurer, Clew Bay Heritage Centre, The Quay, Westport, Co. Mayo, Ireland.
This entitles you to a copy of our next Journal, free admission to the Heritage Centre
and a discount on books and genealogy searches.
Genealogy
Clew Bay Heritage Centre runs a very successful genealogical research service for the
Westport and Clew Bay area. This service is backed up by an extensive computer
database, based on Church records, school registers, rent rolls, cemetery records,
census returns, local newspapers and street directories. We also have a wide network
of local people with an exhaustive knowledge of the area, people and places.
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Westport Historical Society
Proceedings for 2007
January 2007
Attendance at Heritage Towns of Ireland A.G.M. in Fáilte
Ireland Head Office, Dublin.
Attendance at Futurism Conference in Ballina.
February
We provided guided walks for following groups:
Westport Wellness Week.
Athlone Institute of Technology
Vocational Training Centre, Castlebar.
Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology.
Attendance at Kilkenny Fáilte Ireland Course.
March
Launch of Cathair na Mart No. 25 by Fr. Mícheál MacGréil
S.J. in Matt Molloys, Westport. (Sponsored by Westport
Credit Union Ltd.).
Mrs. Síle Mulloy makes a presentation to Rev. Fr. Mícheál MacGréil S.J. at the launch
of Journal No. 25.
(Pic: Frank Dolan)
149
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Heritage Centre hosted a two day course given by Fáilte
Ireland and G.M.I.T. attended by participants on Tourism
Learning Network from Mayo and Galway.
Guided walk for:
Familiarisation Trip for Heritage Island delegates from all
over Ireland.
April
Walks for:
Hope House Conference.
Westport/Plougastel Town Twinning, 30th Anniversary.
Heritage Centre had an information stand at Fáilte Ireland
activities exhibition in Castlecourt Hotel, Westport.
May
Guided walks for:
Group of Genealogists from Boston.
Journalists from the inaugural New York to Knock flight.
For the months of May and June we linked up with “Super
Fun School Tours” based in Athlone and hosted twice
weekly educational visits for Primary School children.
June
Guided walks for:
Donegal Historical Society.
Active Retirement, Wexford.
July/August
We were joined by archivist Clodagh Keogh, from Paris, for
five weeks. Clodagh assisted us in cataloguing our
collection. This was funded by the Heritage Council.
For two weeks we also had the assistance of Bridget
Ferrigan, an undergraduate student in Musuem Studies at
Michigan State University, who was on placement with The
Museums of Mayo Network. We wish Bridget well in her
further studies.
We participated in two competitions “Communities in
Bloom” and “Pride of Place” when judges of these
competitions visited The Heritage Centre.
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August
Annual Church Gate Collection. Many thanks to all who
contributed and to our volunteers who helped with the
collection.
September
“Destination Westport” hosted two familiarisation trips for
journalists from all parts of Ireland and the U.K. As part of
their trip, the journalists visited the Heritage Centre,
participated in a guided walking tour and we accompanied
them to Murrisk, Croagh Patrick and Carrigahowley Castle.
Congratulations to Westport Tidy Towns on winning four
major awards.
During road resurfacing works along Westport Quay, Mayo
County Council uncovered the rails of the old railway spur
that serviced Pollexfen’s/Hall’s Mill. This was a horsedrawn extension from where the steam train terminated
further back the quay. The rails were again covered over.
Rediscovered rail. The right rail is in the centre of the road. The left rail lies along the
shadow.
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At the second Jarlath Duffy Memorial Lecture were Anthony Jordan, Anne Duffy and
John Molloy.
October
Jarlath Duffy Second Memorial Lecture by Anthony Jordan
on “Writing Four Books on Major John MacBride 19912006” in the Plaza Hotel.
Donation to Heritage Centre of motoring goggles (1910) by
Michael Rabbett, Westport.
Visit by local schools to the Heritage Centre.
November
Provision of walks/tours etc. to participants in Oireachtas na
Samhna.
Visit to the Heritage Centre by R.T.É. programme
Nationwide.
152

Cathair na Mart - Clew Bay Heritage Centre

Transcription

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